---
kind: "section"
citation: "42 U.S.C. § 10242"
title: "42"
title_heading: "The Public Health and Welfare"
number: "10242"
heading: "Office of Nuclear Waste Negotiator"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/42/10242"
units:
  - "Chapter 108 — Nuclear Waste Policy"
  - "Subchapter IV — Nuclear Waste Negotiator"
---

# §10242. Office of Nuclear Waste Negotiator

- (a) **Establishment—** There is established the [Office](/usc/42/10101.md?p=17) of the Nuclear Waste [Negotiator](/usc/42/10101.md?p=32) that shall be an independent establishment in the executive branch.
- (b) **Nuclear Waste Negotiator—**
  - (1) The [Office](/usc/42/10101.md?p=17) shall be headed by a Nuclear Waste [Negotiator](/usc/42/10101.md?p=32) who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. The [Negotiator](/usc/42/10101.md?p=32) shall hold [office](/usc/42/10101.md?p=17) at the pleasure of the President, and shall be compensated at the rate provided for level III of the Executive Schedule in [section 5314 of title 5](/usc/5/5314.md).
  - (2) The [Negotiator](/usc/42/10101.md?p=32) shall attempt to find a [State](/usc/42/10101.md?p=24) or [Indian tribe](/usc/42/10101.md?p=15) willing to host a [repository](/usc/42/10101.md?p=18) or [monitored retrievable storage facility](/usc/42/10101.md?p=34) at a technically qualified site on reasonable terms and shall negotiate with any [State](/usc/42/10101.md?p=24) or [Indian tribe](/usc/42/10101.md?p=15) which expresses an interest in hosting a [repository](/usc/42/10101.md?p=18) or [monitored retrievable storage facility](/usc/42/10101.md?p=34).

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 97–425, title IV, § 402, as added Pub. L. 100–202, § 101(d) [title III], Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 1329–104, 1329–121; Pub. L. 100–203, title V, § 5041, Dec. 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 1330–243; amended Pub. L. 100–507, § 1, Oct. 18, 1988, 102 Stat. 2541.)

## Notes

### Editorial Notes

### Codification

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

### Amendments

1988—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 100–507 amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) read as follows: “There is established within the Executive Office of the President the Office of the Nuclear Waste Negotiator.”