By Madla                                               S.B. No. 822
       74R6325 MI-F
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the definition of low-level radioactive waste.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 401.208, Health and Safety Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 401.208.  Limitation on Certain Radioactive Waste
    1-7  Disposal.  <(a)>  A license holder may not accept for disposal
    1-8  under a license issued by the commission <department>:
    1-9              (1)  high-level radioactive waste as defined by Title
   1-10  10, Code of Federal Regulations;
   1-11              (2)  irradiated reactor fuel; or
   1-12              (3)  radioactive waste that contains <10 or more
   1-13  nanocuries per gram of> transuranics in concentrations greater than
   1-14  those allowed by Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations.
   1-15        <(b)  The board by rule shall adopt special criteria for the
   1-16  disposal of radioactive waste with a half-life greater than 35
   1-17  years and radioactive waste that contains less than 10 nanocuries
   1-18  per gram of transuranics.>
   1-19        SECTION 2.  Section 402.003(6), Health and Safety Code, is
   1-20  amended to read as follows:
   1-21              (6)  "Low-level waste":
   1-22                    (A)  means that radioactive material defined by
   1-23  Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, as low-level waste and
   1-24  subject to:
    2-1                          (i)  the concentration limits established
    2-2  under Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, and by the department
    2-3  or commission within its respective jurisdiction; and
    2-4                          (ii)  the disposal criteria established
    2-5  under Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, and by the department
    2-6  and commission; and
    2-7                    (B)  <that has a half-life of 35 years or less or
    2-8  fewer than 10 nanocuries per gram of transuranics, and may include
    2-9  radioactive material not excluded by this subdivision with a
   2-10  half-life of more than 35 years if special criteria for disposal of
   2-11  that waste are established by the department.  The term> does not
   2-12  include:
   2-13                          (i)  irradiated reactor fuel, <and>
   2-14  high-level radioactive waste, or spent fuel as defined by Title 10,
   2-15  Code of Federal Regulations; or
   2-16                          (ii)  by-product material as defined by
   2-17  Section 11(e)(2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C.
   2-18  Section 2014(e)(2)).
   2-19        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-20  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-21  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-22  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-23  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
   2-24  and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
   2-25  passage, and it is so enacted.