R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-19.9-2

Current through 2024 Public Law 457

Section 23-19.9-2 - Definitions

As used in this compact, unless the context clearly requires a different construction:

(1) "Adjudicatory proceeding" means the Commission process of formulating an order;

(2) "Closure" means the permanent termination of waste acceptance at a facility, including closure prior to its scheduled closing date, and the implementation of a closure plan;

(3) "Commission" means the Rhode Island-Massachusetts Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Commission established in § 23-19.9-5;

(4) "Commission action" means the whole or a part of a Commission rule, order, sanction, relief of the equivalent or denial thereof, or failure to act;

(5) "Custodial agency" means the agency of the state or federal government designated to act on behalf of the government owner of a regional facility during the facility's institutional control period;

(6) "Disposal" means the isolation of low-level waste from the biosphere inhabited by human beings and their food chains;

(7) "Executive session" means any meeting or part of a meeting of the Commission or a committee of the Commission that is closed to certain persons for deliberation on certain matters;

(8) "Facility" means a parcel of land, together with the structures, equipment and improvement on the parcel of land or appurtenant to it, which is being developed, is used, or has been used for the treatment, storage or disposal of low-level waste;

(9) "Generator" means a person who produces or treats low-level waste in the region, but does not include persons who only provide a service by arranging for the collection, transportation, treatment, storage or disposal of low-level waste generated outside the region;

(10) "High-level waste" means:

(i) The highly radioactive material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentration; and

(ii) Any other highly radioactive material determined by the federal government as requiring permanent isolation;

(11) "Host state" means a party state in which a regional facility is located or being developed;

(12) "Institutional control" means the continued observation, monitoring, and care of a regional facility following transfer of the facility's license from the operator to the custodial agency;

(13) "Interim storage" means the temporary storage of low-level waste in the event that no licensed facility is available for its treatment or disposal in the region during any time this compact is in effect;

(14) "Intervenor to an adjudicatory proceeding" means any party state or agency or political subdivision of any party state or agency, or not less than 50 other persons residing within the region, who petition for status as a party to an adjudicatory proceeding in which damage to the environment, the public's health or safety or economic damage, injury or financial integrity might be an issue;

(15) "Low-level waste" means radioactive waste that:

(i) Is neither high-level waste nor transuranic waste, nor spent nuclear fuel, nor by-product material as defined in § 11(e)(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 42 U.S.C. § 2014(e); and

(ii) Is classified by the federal government as low-level waste, consistent with existing law; but does not include waste which remains a federal responsibility, including waste generated as a result of atomic energy defense activities of the federal government, as defined in the Policy Act, or federal research and development activities;

(16) "Management" means the generation, storage, packaging, treatment, transportation, and disposal, where applicable, of low-level waste;

(17) "Order" means a Commission action of particular applicability that determines the legal rights, duties, privileges, immunities or other legal interests of one or more specific states or persons. The term includes, but is not limited to, the following Commission actions:

(i) Determination of whether or not a state is eligible for admission to the Compact;

(ii) Determination of compliance of a party state with the conditions and requirements of the Compact;

(iii) Designation of host states;

(iv) Revocation of a party state's membership in the Compact; and

(v) Imposition of sanctions against a party state;

(18) "Party state" means any state that is a signatory party in good standing to this compact;

(19) "Party to an adjudicatory proceeding" means:

(i) Any person whose rights, duties or privileges are to be determined through formulation of an order;

(ii) Any other person who, as a matter of right or by any provision of this compact, is entitled to fully participate in the proceeding and who, upon notice as required in subsection (l) of § 23-19.9-5 makes appearance; and

(iii) Any intervenor to the adjudicatory proceeding;

(20) "Person" means an individual, corporation, business enterprise, unincorporated association or other legal entity, either public or private, and its legal successors; and any party state or agency or political subdivision of any party state or agency;

(21) "Policy Act" means the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2021b et seq.;

(22) "Post-closure observation and maintenance" means the active monitoring and maintenance of a facility which has been closed in accordance with its license site closure plan, and in compliance with other applicable regulatory requirements in preparation for transfer of the facility's license from the operator to the custodial agency;

(23) "Public document" means a document which shall be available for inspection by any person during normal business hours at the office of the Commission or by other mutually agreed arrangement;

(24) "Region" means the entire geographic area of the party states;

(25) "Regional facility" means a facility that is being or has been developed pursuant to § 23-19.9-6;

(26) "Rule" means each Commission statement of general applicability that implements, interprets, or prescribes law or policy, or describes the organization, procedure, or practice requirements of the Commission. The term includes the amendment or repeal of a prior rule, but does not include:

(i) Statements concerning only the internal management of the Commission and not affecting private rights or procedures available to the public; or

(ii) Intra-Commission memoranda;

(27) "Source reduction" means reducing the volume or radioactivity of low-level waste by:

(i) Avoiding unnecessary contamination of items during the use of radioactive materials;

(ii) Carefully segregating radioactive waste from non-radioactive trash; or

(iii) Substituting non-radioactive isotopes or radioisotopes with shorter half-lives in certain procedures;

(28) "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands or any other territory subject to the laws of the United States;

(29) "Storage" means the holding of low-level waste for treatment or disposal;

(30) "Storage for decay" means a procedure in which certain low-level wastes with relatively short half-lives are held for natural radioactive decay in compliance with applicable federal and state regulations;

(31) "Substantial evidence" means any evidence that a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion;

(32) "Temporary closure" means the nonpermanent termination of low-level waste acceptance at a facility prior to its scheduled closing date;

(33) "Transuranic waste" means waste material containing radionuclides with an atomic number greater than ninety-two (92) that are excluded from near surface disposal as determined by the federal government;

(34) "Treatment" means any method, technique, or process, including storage for decay, designed to change the physical, radioactive, chemical or biological characteristics or composition of low-level waste in order to render low-level waste safer for management, amenable for recovery, convertible to another usable material or reduced in volume;

(35) "Volume reduction" means treatment of low-level waste in order to reduce the physical dimensions of the waste and the space required for disposal.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-19.9-2

P.L. 1986, ch. 300, § 1.