(a) Specific and other site locations; remedial action; consultations; boundaries; Grand Junction, Colorado, site restriction

(1) As soon as practicable, but no later than one year after November 8, 1978, the Secretary shall designate processing sites at or near the following locations:

Salt Lake City, Utah

Green River, Utah

Mexican Hat, Utah

Durango, Colorado

Grand Junction, Colorado

Rifle, Colorado (two sites)

Gunnison, Colorado

Naturita, Colorado

Maybell, Colorado

Slick Rock, Colorado (two sites)

Shiprock, New Mexico

Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico

Riverton, Wyoming

Converse County, Wyoming

Lakeview, Oregon

Falls City, Texas

Tuba City, Arizona

Monument Valley, Arizona

Lowman, Idaho

Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania


Subject to the provisions of this subchapter, the Secretary shall complete remedial action at the above listed sites before his authority terminates under this subchapter. The Secretary shall within one year of November 8, 1978, also designate all other processing sites within the United States which he determines requires remedial action to carry out the purposes of this subchapter. In making such designation, the Secretary shall consult with the Administrator, the Commission, and the affected States, and in the case of Indian lands, the appropriate Indian tribe and the Secretary of the Interior.

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Terms Used In 42 USC 7912

  • county: includes a parish, or any other equivalent subdivision of a State or Territory of the United States. See 1 USC 2
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Public law: A public bill or joint resolution that has passed both chambers and been enacted into law. Public laws have general applicability nationwide.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • State: means a State, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any other territory or possession of the United States. See 1 USC 7

(2) As part of his designation under this subsection, the Secretary, in consultation with the Commission, shall determine the boundaries of each such site.

(3) No site or structure with respect to which remedial action is authorized under Public Law 92-314 in Grand Junction, Colorado, may be designated by the Secretary as a processing site under this section.

(b) Health hazard assessment; priorities for remedial action

Within one year from November 8, 1978, the Secretary shall assess the potential health hazard to the public from the residual radioactive materials at designated processing sites. Based upon such assessment, the Secretary shall, within such one year period, establish priorities for carrying out remedial action at each such site. In establishing such priorities, the Secretary shall rely primarily on the advice of the Administrator.

(c) Notification

Within thirty days after making designations of processing sites and establishing the priorities for such sites under this section, the Secretary shall notify the Governor of each affected State, and, where appropriate, the Indian tribes and the Secretary of the Interior.

(d) Finality of determinations

The designations made, and priorities established, by the Secretary under this section shall be final and not be subject to judicial review.

(e) Certain real property or improved areas

(1) The designation of processing sites within one year after November 8, 1978, under this section shall include, to the maximum extent practicable, the areas referred to in section 7911(6)(B) of this title.

(2) Notwithstanding the one year limitation contained in this section, the Secretary may, after such one year period, include any area described in section 7911(6)(B) of this title as part of a processing site designated under this section if he determines such inclusion to be appropriate to carry out the purposes of this subchapter.

(3) The Secretary shall designate as a processing site within the meaning of section 7911(6) of this title any real property, or improvements thereon, in Edgemont, South Dakota, that—

(A) is in the vicinity of the Tennessee Valley Authority uranium mill site at Edgemont (but not including such site), and

(B) is determined by the Secretary to be contaminated with residual radioactive materials.


In making the designation under this paragraph, the Secretary shall consult with the Administrator, the Commission and the State of South Dakota. The provisions of this subchapter shall apply to the site so designated in the same manner and to the same extent as to the sites designated under subsection (a) except that, in applying such provisions to such site, any reference in this subchapter to November 8, 1978, shall be treated as a reference to January 4, 1983, and in determining the State share under section 7917 of this title of the costs of remedial action, there shall be credited to the State, expenditures made by the State prior to January 4, 1983, which the Secretary determines would have been made by the State or the United States in carrying out the requirements of this subchapter.

(f) Designation of Moab Site as processing site

(1) Designation

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Moab uranium milling site (referred to in this subsection as the “Moab site”) located approximately three miles northwest of Moab, Utah, and identified in the Final Environmental Impact Statement issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 1996 in conjunction with Source Materials License No. SUA-917, is designated as a processing site.

(2) Applicability

This subchapter applies to the Moab site in the same manner and to the same extent as to other processing sites designated under subsection (a), except that—

(A) sections 7913, 7914(b), 7917(a), 7922(a), and 7925(a) of this title shall not apply; and

(B) a reference in this subchapter to November 8, 1978, shall be treated as a reference to October 30, 2000.

(3) Remediation

Subject to the availability of appropriations for this purpose, the Secretary shall conduct remediation at the Moab site in a safe and environmentally sound manner that takes into consideration the remedial action plan prepared pursuant to section 3405(i) of the Strom Thurmond National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1999 (10 U.S.C. 8720 note; Public Law 105-261), including—

(A) ground water restoration; and

(B) the removal, to a site in the State of Utah, for permanent disposition and any necessary stabilization, of residual radioactive material and other contaminated material from the Moab site and the floodplain of the Colorado River.