(420 ILCS 20/10.2) (from Ch. 111 1/2, par. 241-10.2)
Sec. 10.2. Creation of Low-Level Radioactive Waste Task Group; adoption of criteria; selection of site for characterization.
(a) There is hereby created the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Task Group consisting of the Directors of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (or their designees) and 6 additional members designated by the Governor. The 6 additional members shall:
(1) be confirmed by the Senate; and
(2) receive compensation of $300 per day for their
services on the Task Group unless they are officers or employees of the State, in which case they shall receive no additional compensation.
Four of the additional members shall have expertise in the field of geology, hydrogeology, or hydrology. Of the 2 remaining additional members, one shall be a member of the public with experience in environmental matters and one shall have at least 5 years experience in local government. The Directors of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Natural Resources, and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (or their designees) shall receive no additional compensation for their service on the Task Group. All members of the Task Group shall be compensated for their expenses. The Governor shall designate the chairman of the Task Group. Upon adoption of the criteria under subsection (b) of this Section, the Directors of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency shall be replaced on the Task Group by members designated by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The members designated to replace the Directors of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency and the Environmental Protection Agency shall have such expertise as the Governor may determine. The members of the Task Group shall be members until they resign, are replaced by the Governor, or the Task Group is abolished. Except as provided in this Act, the Task Group shall be subject to the Open Meetings Act and the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. Any action required to be taken by the Task Group under this Act shall be taken by a majority vote of its members. An identical vote by 5 members of the Task Group shall constitute a majority vote.
(b) To protect the public health, safety and welfare, the Task Group shall develop proposed criteria for selection of a site for a regional disposal facility. Principal criteria shall relate to the geographic, geologic, seismologic, tectonic, hydrologic, and other scientific conditions best suited for a regional disposal facility. Supplemental criteria may relate to land use (including (i) the location of existing underground mines and (ii) the exclusion of State parks, State conservation areas, and other State owned lands identified by the Task Group), economics, transportation, meteorology, and any other matter identified by the Task Group as relating to desirable conditions for a regional disposal facility. All of the criteria shall be as specific as possible.
The chairman of the Task Group shall publish a notice of availability of the proposed criteria in the State newspaper, make copies of the proposed criteria available without charge to the public, and hold public hearings to receive comments on the proposed criteria. Written comments on the proposed criteria may be submitted to the chairman of the Task Group within a time period to be determined by the Task Group. Upon completion of the review of timely submitted comments on the proposed criteria, the Task Group shall adopt criteria for selection of a site for a regional disposal facility. Adoption of the criteria is not subject to the Illinois Administrative Procedure Act. The chairman of the Task Group shall provide copies of the criteria to the Governor, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House, and all county boards in the State of Illinois and shall make copies of the criteria available without charge to the public.
(c) Upon adoption of the criteria, the Director of Natural Resources shall direct the Scientific Surveys to screen the State of Illinois. By September 30, 1997, the Scientific Surveys shall (i) complete a Statewide screening of the State using available information and the Surveys' geography-based information system to produce individual and composite maps showing the application of individual criteria; (ii) complete the evaluation of all land volunteered before the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1997 to determine whether any of the volunteered land appears likely to satisfy the criteria; (iii) document the results of the screening and volunteer site evaluations in a written report and submit the report to the chairman of the Task Group and to the Director; and (iv) transmit to the Task Group and to the Agency, in a form specified by the Task Group and the Agency, all information and documents assembled by the Scientific Surveys in performing the obligations of the Scientific Surveys under this Act. Upon completion of the screening and volunteer site evaluation process, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources shall be replaced on the Task Group by a member appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The member appointed to replace the Director of the Department of Natural Resources shall have expertise that the Governor determines to be appropriate.
(c-3) By December 1, 2000, the Department of Nuclear Safety (now the Illinois Emergency Management Agency), in consultation with the Task Group, waste generators, and any interested counties and municipalities and after holding 3 public hearings throughout the State, shall prepare a report regarding, at a minimum, the impact and ramifications, if any, of the following factors and circumstances on the siting, design, licensure, development, construction, operation, closure, and post-closure care of a regional disposal facility:
(1) the federal, state, and regional programs for the
siting, development, and operation of disposal facilities for low-level radioactive wastes and the nature, extent, and likelihood of any legislative or administrative changes to those programs;
(2) (blank);
(3) the current and most reliable projections
regarding the costs of the siting, design, development, construction, operation, closure, decommissioning, and post-closure care of a regional disposal facility;
(4) the current and most reliable estimates of the
total volume of low-level radioactive waste that will be disposed at a regional disposal facility in Illinois and the projected annual volume amounts;
(5) the nature and extent of the available, if any,
storage and disposal facilities outside the region of the Compact for storage and disposal of low-level radioactive waste generated from within the region of the Compact; and
(6) the development and implementation of a voluntary
site selection process in which land may be volunteered for the regional disposal facility jointly by landowners and (i) the municipality in which the land is located, (ii) every municipality within 1 1/2 miles of the land if the land is not within a municipality, or (iii) the county or counties in which the land is located if the land is not within a municipality and not within 1 1/2 miles of a municipality. The Director shall provide copies of the report to the Governor, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House. The Director shall also publish a notice of availability of the report in the State newspaper and make copies of the report available without charge to the public.
(c-5) Following submittal of the report pursuant to subsection (c-3) of this Section, the Agency may adopt rules establishing a site selection process for the regional disposal facility. In developing rules, the Agency shall, at a minimum, consider the following:
(1) A comprehensive and open process under which the
land for sites recommended and proposed by the contractor under subsection (e) of this Section shall be volunteered lands as provided in this Section. Land may be volunteered for the regional disposal facility jointly by landowners and (i) the municipality in which the land is located, (ii) every municipality with 1 1/2 miles of the land if the land is not within a municipality, or (iii) the county or counties in which the land is located if the land is not within a municipality and not within 1 1/2 miles of a municipality.
(2) Utilization of the State screening and volunteer
site evaluation report prepared by the Scientific Surveys under subsection (c) of this Section for the purpose of determining whether proposed sites appear likely to satisfy the site selection criteria.
(3) Coordination of the site selection process with
the projected annual and total volume of low-level radioactive waste to be disposed at the regional disposal facility as identified in the report prepared under subsection (c-3) of this Section.
The site selection process established under this subsection shall require the contractor selected by the Agency pursuant to Sections 5 and 10 of this Act to propose one site to the Task Group for approval under subsections (d) through (i) of this Section.
No proposed site shall be selected as the site for the regional disposal facility unless it satisfies the site selection criteria established by the Task Group under subsection (b) of this Section.
(d) The contractor selected by the Agency under Sections 5 and 10 of this Act shall conduct evaluations, including possible intrusive field investigations, of the sites and locations identified under the site selection process established under subsection (c-5) of this Section.
(e) Upon completion of the site evaluations, the contractor selected by the Agency shall identify one site of at least 640 acres that appears promising for development of the regional disposal facility in compliance with the site selection criteria established by the Task Group pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section. The contractor may conduct any other evaluation of the site identified under this subsection that the contractor deems appropriate to determine whether the site satisfies the criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this Section. Upon completion of the evaluations under this subsection, the contractor shall prepare and submit to the Agency a report on the evaluation of the identified site, including a recommendation as to whether the identified site should be further considered for selection as a site for the regional disposal facility. A site so recommended for further consideration is hereinafter referred to as a "proposed site".
(f) A report completed under subsection (e) of this Section that recommends a proposed site shall also be submitted to the chairman of the Task Group. Within 45 days following receipt of a report, the chairman of the Task Group shall publish in newspapers of general circulation in the county or counties in which a proposed site is located a notice of the availability of the report and a notice of a public meeting. The chairman of the Task Group shall also, within the 45-day period, provide copies of the report and the notice to the Governor, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House, members of the General Assembly from the legislative district or districts in which a proposed site is located, the county board or boards of the county or counties containing a proposed site, and each city, village, and incorporated town within a 5 mile radius of a proposed site. The chairman of the Task Group shall make copies of the report available without charge to the public.
(g) The chairman of the Task Group shall convene at least one public meeting on each proposed site. At the public meeting or meetings, the contractor selected by the Agency shall present the results of the evaluation of the proposed site. The Task Group shall receive such other written and oral information about the proposed site that may be submitted at the meeting. Following the meeting, the Task Group shall decide whether the proposed site satisfies the criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this Section. If the Task Group determines that the proposed site does not satisfy the criteria, the Agency may require a contractor to submit a further report pursuant to subsection (e) of this Section proposing another site from the locations identified under the site selection process established pursuant to subsection (c-5) of this Section as likely to satisfy the criteria. Following notice and distribution of the report as required by subsection (f) of this Section, the new proposed site shall be the subject of a public meeting under this subsection. The contractor selected by the Agency shall propose additional sites, and the Task Group shall conduct additional public meetings, until the Task Group has approved a proposed site recommended by a contractor as satisfying the criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this Section. In the event that the Task Group does not approve any of the proposed sites recommended by the contractor under this subsection as satisfying the criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this Section, the Task Group shall immediately suspend all work and the Agency shall prepare a study containing, at a minimum, the Agency's recommendations regarding the viability of the site selection process established pursuant to this Act, based on the factors and circumstances specified in items (1) through (6) of subsection (c-3) of Section 10.2. The Agency shall provide copies of the study to the Governor, the President and Minority Leader of the Senate, and the Speaker and Minority Leader of the House. The Agency shall also publish a notice of availability of the study in the State newspaper and make copies of the report available without charge to the public.
(h) (Blank).
(i) Upon the Task Group's decision that a proposed site satisfies the criteria adopted under subsection (b) of this Section, the contractor shall proceed with the characterization and licensure of the proposed site under Section 10.3 of this Act and the Task Group shall immediately suspend all work, except as otherwise specifically required in subsection (b) of Section 10.3 of this Act.
(Source: P.A. 95-777, eff. 8-4-08.)
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Last modified: February 18, 2015