BILL NUMBER: SB 208 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 8, 2003
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 22, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Senator Kuehl
FEBRUARY 13, 2003
An act to add Section Sections 25279.3 and
114716 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to radiation.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 208, as amended, Kuehl. Radiation: contamination.
(1) The
The existing Radiation Control Law requires the State
Department of Health Services, among other things, to issue licenses,
and prohibits the state department from issuing a license to receive
radioactive material for disposal on land unless specified
requirements are satisfied. Existing law prohibits any person from
burying, throwing away, or disposing of radioactive waste except in a
manner that will result in no significant radioactive contamination
of the environment.
This bill would require the department
State Department of Health Services to direct a person who owns
or operates the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County to
establish and use thorough and rigorous monitoring of the site using
best available technology, equipment, and methodology, as specified,
to provide assurance that all residual radioactive contamination is
identified.
The bill would require the owner or operator of the site
to clean up the site until it meets specified cancer risk standards,
before selling, transferring, or leasing the site for a subsequent
land use that before a person sells, transfers, or
leases the site for any subsequent land use, the State Department of
Health Services certify that the radioactive contamination has been
remediated. The bill would prohibit the State Department of Health
Services from certifying that the site is remediated unless the
remediation is conducted pursuant to the specified standards,
guidance, procedures, and practices . The bill would require a
person who removes material from that site that has radioactive
contamination above background to transfer the material to a disposal
facility specifically licensed for that type of waste.
The bill would provide that if Senate Bill 201 is enacted and
becomes effective on or before January 1, 2004, the Department of
Toxic Substances Control would instead implement the bill's
provisions.
The bill would make legislative findings and declarations
regarding the necessity of a special statute.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25279.3 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:
25279.3. On and after January 1, 2004, the department shall
impose the following conditions on the site consisting of all parcels
of land that comprise the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura
County:
(a) The owner or operator of the site shall establish and use
thorough and rigorous monitoring of the site using best available
technology, equipment, and methodology, to provide a high assurance
that all residual radioactive contamination is identified. The
monitoring required pursuant to this subdivision shall be consistent
with those measures provided in the United States Environmental
Protection Agency's September 2001 Draft Scoping Document for
Development of Workplan for a Soil Radiation Survey of Santa Susana
Field Laboratory Area IV, and shall consist of at least 80 percent of
the amount of surface and subsurface soil samples identified in that
document.
(b) Before a person may sell, transfer, or lease the site for any
subsequent land use, the department shall certify that the
radioactive contamination has been remediated. The department may
not certify that the site is remediated unless the remediation is
conducted pursuant to the standards, guidance, procedures, and
practices established by the EPA for sites with radioactive
contamination being remediated pursuant to CERCLA. The department
shall require that buildings on the site with radioactive
contamination to be remediated employing the EPA CERCLA risk range
and point of departure, the EPA criteria for determining whether and
how far to permit falling back from the risk point of departure, and
other applicable EPA standards, guidance, procedures, and practices.
(c) All material that is removed from the site and has radioactive
contamination above background shall be transferred to a disposal
facility specifically licensed for that type of waste by any of the
following:
(1) The department, pursuant to Chapter 6.68 (commencing with
Section 25271).
(2) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
(3) A state that has entered into an agreement pursuant to Section
2021 of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(4) An authorized disposal site at a Department of Energy
facility.
(d) For purposes of this section, "background" means the local
level of radioactivity resulting from all of the following sources of
radioactivity:
(1) Materials in nature without enhancement by human activity.
(2) The fallout from nuclear weapons testing.
(3) The local deposition of fallout from past nuclear accidents
located elsewhere in the world, including, but not limited to, the
nuclear accident in Chernobyl.
SEC. 2. Section 114716 is added to the Health and Safety
Code, to read:
114716. On and after January 1, 2004, the department shall impose
the following conditions on the site consisting of all parcels of
land that comprise the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura
County:
(a) The owner or operator of the site shall establish and use
thorough and rigorous monitoring of the site using best available
technology, equipment, and methodology, to provide a high assurance
that all residual radioactive contamination is identified. The
monitoring required pursuant to this subdivision shall be consistent
with those measures provided in the United States Environmental
Protection Agency's September 2001 Draft Scoping Document for
Development of Workplan for a Soil Radiation Survey of Santa Susana
Field Laboratory Area IV, and shall consist of at least 80 percent of
the amount of surface and subsurface soil samples identified in that
document.
(b) Prior to the sale, transfer, or lease of the site for a
subsequent land use, the owner or operator of the site shall clean it
up to a level that results in a cancer risk no greater than that
provided in Section 15 of the "Guidance for Cleanup of Radioactivity
on Closing Military Bases for Unrestricted Public Use of Property"
issued by the Radiological Health Branch of the department on April
5, 1994.
(b) Before a person may sell, transfer, or lease the site for any
subsequent land use, the department shall certify that the
radioactive contamination has been remediated. The department may
not certify that the site is remediated unless the remediation is
conducted pursuant to the standards, guidance, procedures, and
practices established by the EPA for sites with radioactive
contamination being remediated pursuant to CERCLA. The department
shall require that buildings on the site with radioactive
contamination to be remediated employing the EPA CERCLA risk range
and point of departure, the EPA criteria for determining whether and
how far to permit falling back from the risk point of departure, and
other applicable EPA standards, guidance, procedures, and practices.
(c) All material that is removed from the site and has radioactive
contamination above background shall be transferred to a disposal
facility specifically licensed for that type of waste by any of the
following:
(1) The department, pursuant to Chapter 8 (commencing with Section
114960).
(2) The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
(3) A state that has entered into an agreement pursuant to Section
2021 of Title 42 of the United States Code.
(4) An authorized disposal site at a Department of Energy
facility.
(d) For purposes of this section, "background" means the local
(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall
apply:
(1) "Background" means the local level of radioactivity
resulting from all of the following sources of radioactivity:
(1)
(A) Materials in nature without enhancement by human
activity.
(2)
(B) The fallout from nuclear weapons testing.
(3)
(C) The local deposition of fallout from past nuclear
accidents located elsewhere in the world, including, but not limited
to, the nuclear accident in Chernobyl.
SEC. 2.
(2) "CERCLA" means the Comprehensive Environment Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec.
9601 et seq.).
(3) "EPA" means the federal Environmental Protection Agency.
SEC. 3. Section 1 of this bill shall become operative only if
Senate Bill 201 is enacted and becomes effective on or before January
1, 2004, in which case Section 2 of this bill shall not become
operative.
SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that a special
law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable
within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution because of the unique circumstances regarding
radioactivity at Santa Susana Field Laboratory in Ventura County.