Oregon conditions for a nuclear-fueled thermal power plant
Oregon's 2025 official law book still requires a federally licensed high-level-waste repository before a site certificate for a nuclear-fueled thermal power plant, and it requires approval by the state's electors at the next available statewide general election. The certificate shall not be issued until that vote. The text cites a 1981 measure and does not approve a plant.
- Category
- Laws, rules and executive directives
- Status
- In effect
- Instrument
- statute · ORS 469.594 to 469.601 (2025 edition)
- Issued by
- Oregon Legislative Assembly
- Jurisdiction
- Oregon
- Affects
- Siting
- Effective date
- Not recorded
- Expiry or completion
- None recorded
- Operative text
- Oregon Laws Relating to the Public Utility Commission, 2025 edition (2025 edition, Title 36A page 69, opened 4 October 2026)
- Last checked · next review
- 2026-10-04 · 2027-04-15
Legal and geographic scope
The 2025 edition of the laws relating to the Public Utility Commission presents these sections as current and cites 1981 chapter 1 for the initiative text. Before a site certificate for a nuclear-fueled thermal power plant, the Energy Facility Siting Council must find that a federal agency has licensed an adequate repository for the plant's high-level waste. The repository must provide for terminal disposition, with or without retrieval for reprocessing. If the council proposes to issue the certificate, the proposal goes to the state's electors at the next available statewide general election, and the certificate shall not be issued until they approve it. The Public Utility Commission shall not authorize financing for such a plant until the repository finding is made. High-level waste should not be stored at the plant after the operating licence expires, and the operator remains responsible for temporary storage until removal.
Not approved or still pending
The earlier official chapter HTML timed out and the compiled PDF route returned HTTP 404. Those routes were not retried. This 2025 law book is the text that was read. No Oregon project is linked. The sections do not issue a site certificate.
Dated lifecycle
- 1981 · actual · year · Enacted — The 2025 edition cites 1981 chapter 1 for these sections. It does not print a calendar day. Later amendment years printed on the storage section are not stored as this record's effective date. (Oregon Laws Relating to the Public Utility Commission, 2025 edition)
Definitions in this instrument
- High-level radioactive waste (ORS 469.590): Spent nuclear fuel or the radioactive by-products from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel.
Legal definition used by this instrument only; SMRMap's inclusion rule for SMRs is separate and unchanged.
Projects or designs named by the source
- None. Location in this jurisdiction does not make a project eligible for, or approved under, this measure.
Sources
- Oregon Laws Relating to the Public Utility Commission, 2025 edition (government_primary, accessed 2026-10-04)