42 U.S.C. § 10168
Section 10168 · Construction authorization
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 23 court decisions — leading case 56 Fed. Cl. 652 - Commonwealth Edison Co. v. United States (2003)
Most recently applied in Entergy Nuclear Indian Point 2, LLC v. United States (October 2016)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(1) Once the selection of a site is effective under section 10166 of this title, the requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.) shall apply with respect to construction of a monitored retrievable storage facility, except that any environmental impact statement prepared with respect to such facility shall not be required to consider the need for such facility or any alternative to the design criteria for such facility set forth in section 10161(b)(1) of this title.
(2) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the consideration of alternative facility designs consistent with the criteria described in section 10161(b)(1) of this title in any environmental impact statement, or in any licensing procedure of the Commission, with respect to any monitored retrievable storage facility authorized under section 10162(b) of this title.
Once the selection of a site for a monitored retrievable storage facility is effective under section 10166 of this title, the Secretary may submit an application to the Commission for a license to construct such a facility as part of an integrated nuclear waste management system and in accordance with the provisions of this section and applicable agreements under this chapter affecting such facility.
Any monitored retrievable storage facility authorized pursuant to section 10162(b) of this title shall be subject to licensing under section 5842(3) of this title. In reviewing the application filed by the Secretary for licensing of such facility, the Commission may not consider the need for such facility or any alternative to the design criteria for such facility set forth in section 10161(b)(1) of this title.
Any license issued by the Commission for a monitored retrievable storage facility under this section shall provide that—
(1) construction of such facility may not begin until the Commission has issued a license for the construction of a repository under section 10135(d) of this title;
(2) construction of such facility or acceptance of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste shall be prohibited during such time as the repository license is revoked by the Commission or construction of the repository ceases;
(3) the quantity of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste at the site of such facility at any one time may not exceed 10,000 metric tons of heavy metal until a repository under this chapter first accepts spent nuclear fuel or solidified high-level radioactive waste; and
(4) the quantity of spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste at the site of such facility at any one time may not exceed 15,000 metric tons of heavy metal.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, referred to in subsec. (a)(1), is Pub. L. 91–190, Jan. 1, 1970, 83 Stat. 852, as amended, which is classified generally to chapter 55 (§4321 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 4321 of this title and Tables.
Codification
Pub. L. 100–202 and Pub. L. 100–203 added identical sections.