Review of adequacy of federal Department of Energy site selection and plan; recommendations by board; decision by governor
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If the federal Department of Energy selects a site in the state for construction of a repository for the long-term or temporary storage and/or permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste or transuranic waste, the board shall review the adequacy of the selected site and of the site plan prepared by the federal Department of Energy pursuant to Section 57-49-31(2)(k). The review shall include a full scientific review of the adequacy of the selected site and the site plan. The board shall solicit written comments on the selected site and the site plan from the council and the committee. The board may utilize recognized experts in conducting its scientific review. The board shall conduct at least one (1) public hearing in the affected county on the site plan and shall make available to the public arguments and evidence for and against the site plan. The board shall provide ten (10) days' notice of the date and location(s) of the public hearing(s). The board shall solicit comments from appropriate state agencies, local units of government, and interested citizen groups on the adequacy of the selected site and the site plan. The board shall make these comments available to the public.
After completing this review, the board shall submit a recommendation, complete with supporting reasons for the recommendation, to the speaker of the house of representatives, the lieutenant governor and the Governor on the issue of whether the state should accept the site and site plan selected by the federal Department of Energy. The Governor and/or members of the Legislature, after review of the recommendation and findings of the board, may confer with the board, council, committee, representatives of state agencies, institutions of higher learning and/or representatives of the affected county or locality. The Governor shall thereafter determine the advisability of such facility at the proposed site. If the Governor's decision, after such consultations, is not favorable to the establishment of the nuclear waste disposal site, he shall notify the Legislature of that decision and either the Governor or the Legislature shall prepare and transmit to the speaker of the United States House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the United States Senate a notice of disapproval of the site recommendation. The notice of disapproval shall contain a statement of those reasons for objection to the site recommendation. All such disposal or storage shall be made in strict adherence to guidelines established by the federal government, the division of radiological health of the state Board of Health, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and the provisions of this section.