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Policy and licensing / Northern Mariana Islands

Northern Mariana Islands 2 CMC § 1326: small modular reactor exemption from the nuclear-free zone law

The Northern Mariana Islands' nuclear and chemical free zone law does not apply to radioactive materials used to build, operate and maintain small modular reactors used solely for electricity that meet federal safety certification and the section's public-health condition, under a section added by Public Law 17-10 and in effect since 28 July 2010. Waste may not be dumped or kept long-term in the Commonwealth. The section licenses nothing and names no project.

Category
Laws, rules and executive directives
Status
In effect
Instrument
statute · 2 CMC § 1326 (Public Law 17-10, § 6)
Issued by
Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Legislature
Jurisdiction
Northern Mariana Islands
Affects
Siting
In effect from
28 Jul 2010 · actual · day
Expiry or completion
None recorded
Operative text
Northern Mariana Islands Commonwealth Code, 2 CMC § 1326 (Law Revision Commission copy) (Commonwealth Law Revision Commission copy opened 5 October 2026)
Last checked · next review
2026-10-05 · 2027-04-15

Legal and geographic scope

Section of the Commonwealth Code chapter that establishes a nuclear and chemical free zone; 2 CMC § 1313 sets that zone equal to the exclusive economic zone. Section 1326 says the chapter does not apply to radioactive materials used in building, operating and maintaining small modular reactors, or later passive modular designs, that are used solely to generate electrical power, meet the safety certification criteria of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S. Department of Energy, and, in the section's words, "pose no known public health hazards equal to or less than fossil fuel power plants". The text names a Los Alamos National Laboratory programme with Hyperion Power Generation, or any other U.S. licensed company. Radioactive waste or left-over material from that use may not be dumped in the Commonwealth or its zone, and may be stored only for a reasonable period before shipment to a licensed facility outside the Commonwealth. The section's source line is Public Law 17-10, section 6, 28 July 2010. The copy opened prints no compilation date.

Not approved or still pending

The section is an exemption from a territorial zone law. It does not license, fund or site a reactor, and it names no project. No utility-commission rule, order or proposal under this section was opened. Public Law 17-10 was read only through the commission's comment. This record does not state how any federal measure applies in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Dated lifecycle

Projects or designs named by the source

Sources