	Background

		Process for Approving a Nuclear Waste Repository Site

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) (1) enacted a system for the federal government to establish a deep underground "geologic repository" forpermanent storage of radioactive waste from civilian nuclear power plants. (4) The State of Nevada exercised this disapproval authority onApril 8. The Act establishes an expedited procedure for congressional consideration of this joint resolution. The terms of the NWPA also specify that a state disapproval of a site designation can be overridden only by enactment of a resolution of repository sitingapproval, having the form prescribed by the Act and considered under the expedited procedure. Committee Action

Requirement for Report or Discharge. 87 on April 25. In that situation, if a committee does not report an approval resolutionby the 60th day of continuous session in the newCongress, it will be discharged from all approval resolutions introduced in that house in the new Congress. 87 pursuant tothe statutory procedure on May 8. Once the resolution has been on the calendar for 5 legislative days, the Speaker may recognize a Member to call it up. The Act directs that at the end of the 2 hours' debate in the House,the previous question be automatically ordered, and the House proceed to vote on adopting the resolution. Finally, it explicitly prohibits amendment of an approvalresolution. (28) If the Senate disagrees to this motion, the Act provides that it may be repeated (and ifmore than one approval resolution reaches the calendar, the motion also might be offered with respect to each). It might be argued that if the resolution were amended, it would cease to meet the description required by42 U.S.C. For example, if the Senate adopted anamendment to an approval resolution, it might be possible for a Senator to raise a point of order that the amendedmeasure was no longer subject to the limits ondebate that the Act establishes as part of the expedited procedures for considering an approval resolution. This action maintains the resolution passed by the other house in aconvenient status for the receiving house to act on it. 34 , it will presumably vote on the House-passed H.J.Res. Each House Must First Consider Own Measure. The Act, however, establishes no further procedure by which either house could then clear forpresidential action an approval resolution received fromthe other. Like a permanent change in rules, a special rule takes the formof a resolution that the Committee on Ruleshas jurisdiction to report, and is considered under procedures that permit the House to vote to terminate debate, andpreclude amendment, after one hour. Additional Statutory Requirements for Site Approval

The previous section addresses whether, if an approval resolution were to be amended into a form other thanthat prescribed by the NWPA, it would continue tobe eligible for consideration under the expedited procedure of the Act. It accordingly appears that, for example, the Senate might amend its approval resolution, then continue considering the measure without regard to the constraintsof the expedited procedure on debate and other procedural actions, and ultimately pass in lieu thereof an unamendedcompanion previously received from theHouse.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), as amended, establishes a process for the federal government to designate a site for a permanent repository forcivilian nuclear waste. In February 2002, this process culminated in a presidential recommendation for a repositoryat Yucca Mountain, Nevada. On April 8, theState of Nevada exercised its authority under NWPA to disapprove the site. As a result of this state disapproval,the site may be approved only if a joint resolutionof repository siting approval becomes law after being passed by Congress during the first period of 90 days ofcontinuous session after the disapproval. Thisperiod appears likely to terminate just after the August recess.
The Act establishes an expedited procedure for congressional consideration of this approval resolution. Pursuant to this expedited procedure, approval resolutionswere introduced in both houses and referred to the respective committees of jurisdiction, which had until the60th day of continuous session after the statedisapproval to report or be discharged. The House committee reported on May 1, and the Senate committee on June10.
In the House, once an approval resolution has been on the calendar for 5 legislative days, a supporter may call it up if the Speaker recognizes him or her for thepurpose. After 2 hours of debate, the House then votes on the resolution without amendment or other interveningmotion. The House passed its resolution onMay 8. In the Senate, once such a resolution is on the calendar, any Senator may make a nondebatable motion toproceed to consider it. Normally, such a motionwould be offered by the majority leader. If rejected, the motion may be repeated. If adopted, the Senate debatesthe resolution for 10 hours (which may bereduced by nondebatable motion), after which a final vote occurs. The statutory procedure forestalls filibustersagainst the resolution by prohibiting mostintervening motions or other actions, but does not on its face preclude amendment of the resolution. An attemptto consider the measure in the Senate wasexpected in early July.
After one house passes an approval resolution, the other takes up and debates its own measure, but takes a final vote on the measure received from the first house. This procedure facilitates clearing the resolution for presidential action. The Act provides for this action to occuronly if the two measures are identical, as thepresent House and Senate measures are. If the Senate resolution were to be amended, however, the terms of the Actwould apparently make this clearanceprocedure unavailable. An amended measure also would cease to have the form prescribed by the NWPA for anapproval resolution, and accordingly might fail toqualify for further action under the expedited procedure.
Either house might overcome such difficulties by using its constitutional power over its own rules to alter the procedure by which it considered an approvalresolution. If an approval resolution were enacted in a different form from that prescribed by the NWPA, however,it might arguably fail to meet the requirementsof the Act for permitting construction of the repository.