---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 10172a"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "10172a"
heading: "Siting a second repository"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/10172a"
units:
  - "Chapter 108 — Nuclear Waste Policy"
  - "Subchapter I — Disposal and Storage of High-Level Radioactive Waste, Spent Nuclear Fuel, and Low-Level Radioactive Waste"
  - "Part E — Redirection of Nuclear Waste Program"
---

# §10172a. Siting a second repository

- (a) **Congressional action required—** The [Secretary](/usc/42/10101.md?p=20) may not conduct site-specific activities with respect to a second [repository](/usc/42/10101.md?p=18) unless Congress has specifically authorized and appropriated funds for such activities.
- (b) **Report—** The [Secretary](/usc/42/10101.md?p=20) shall report to the President and to Congress on or after January 1, 2007, but not later than January 1, 2010, on the need for a second [repository](/usc/42/10101.md?p=18).
- (c) **Termination of granite research—** Not later than 6 months after December 22, 1987, the [Secretary](/usc/42/10101.md?p=20) shall phase out in an orderly manner funding for all research programs in existence on December 22, 1987, designed to evaluate the suitability of crystalline rock as a potential [repository](/usc/42/10101.md?p=18) host medium.
- (d) **Additional siting criteria—** In the event that the [Secretary](/usc/42/10101.md?p=20) at any time after December 22, 1987, considers any sites in crystalline rock for characterization or selection as a [repository](/usc/42/10101.md?p=18), the [Secretary](/usc/42/10101.md?p=20) shall consider (as a supplement to the siting guidelines under [section 10132 of this title](/usc/42/10132.md)) such potentially disqualifying factors as—
  - (1) seasonal increases in population;
  - (2) proximity to public drinking water supplies, including those of metropolitan areas; and
  - (3) the impact that characterization or siting decisions would have on lands owned or placed in trust by the United States for [Indian tribes](/usc/42/10101.md?p=15).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 97–425, title I, § 161, as added Pub. L. 100–202, § 101(d) [title III, § 300], Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 1329–104, 1329–121; Pub. L. 100–203, title V, § 5012, Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 1330–231.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

Pub. L. 100–202 and Pub. L. 100–203 added identical sections.