§ 6501. Storage of radioactive material

(a) No facility for deposit, storage, reprocessing, or disposal of spent nuclear fuel elements or radioactive waste material shall be constructed or established in the State of Vermont unless the General Assembly first finds that it promotes the general good of the State and approves, through either bill or joint resolution, a petition for approval of the facility. No facility for the incineration of low-level radioactive waste, as defined in subdivision 7001(7) of this title, shall be constructed or established without a similar finding and approval.

(b) The construction or establishment after July 1, 1980 of a low-level, temporary storage facility is exempted from subsection (a) of this section. For the purposes of this subsection, the term “low-level, temporary storage” means storage of material:

(1) that is produced by research, educational, industrial, or medical uses not involving a fission reactor; and

(2) that has an overall radioactivity level, before any dilution, of less than one curie per cubic foot; and

(3) that either:

(A) is awaiting transfer to a commercial disposal site; or

(B) is of a material that spontaneously decreases its radioactivity level by one-half in 90 days or less. (Added 1977, No. 77, § 1, eff. April 26, 1977; amended 1979, No. 191 (Adj. Sess.), § 1; 1989, No. 296 (Adj. Sess.), § 8, eff. June 29, 1990.)