The Agency has authority under the Radiation Protection Act of
1990 [420 ILCS 40 ] to respond to conditions that constitute an immediate
threat to health and to assess the costs of its response against the person or
persons responsible for the creation or continuation of the threat. If the
Agency is unable to determine who is responsible for the creation or
continuation of the threat, the costs shall be assessed against the owner of
the property and shall constitute a lien against the property until paid
[420
ILCS 40/38(b)] .
a) Costs that are assessed shall be based on:
1) The Agency's actual response costs,
including, but not limited to:
A) Time
required by Agency professional staff to coordinate response;
B) Time spent traveling and providing
administrative support;
C)
Performance or oversight of decontamination activities at properties
contaminated with radioactive material;
D) Performance or oversight of confirmatory
environmental monitoring;
E)
Performance or oversight of treatment, storage and disposal of sources of
radiation;
F) Equipment and
supplies; and
G) Contractual
support, if any, incurred by the Agency.
AGENCY NOTE: These support service costs may include, but are
not limited to, rental of specialized equipment, acquisition of additional
professional expertise not available within the Agency and laboratory fees
charged to the Agency.
2) Costs incurred by other units of
government while assisting the Agency, including agencies of the federal
government, provided the costs are submitted as follows:
A) Unless otherwise notified by the Agency,
the request for reimbursement must be received by the Agency within 45 days
after the assistance is rendered to the Agency or 45 days after the costs are
determined, whichever is later, but in any case, not later than one year after
the assistance is rendered;
B) The
request shall be in writing and shall include documentation justifying costs to
be reimbursed; and
C) Reimbursable
costs may include, but are not limited to, items specified in subsection (a)(1)
of this Section.
b) All reimbursable costs described in a
reimbursement request by a governmental unit are subject to approval by the
Director of the Agency. The Agency may request additional information in
support of the requested reimbursement.
c) If a request by a governmental unit for
costs is denied, or denied in part, the Agency shall notify the requesting
governmental unit of the decision within 30 days after the date the request was
submitted.
d) Each bill for
emergency response costs assessed under this Section shall identify the items
claimed and the costs related to each. Payment is due to the Agency within 45
days after receipt of the bill.
e)
After all emergency response costs have been paid by the responsible parties,
the Agency shall pay governmental units based on approved requests.
f) Any person assessed costs under this
Section shall have the right to a hearing before the Agency provided a written
request for a hearing is served on the Agency within 10 days after notice of
the assessment. In the absence of receipt of a request for a hearing, the
affected party shall be deemed to have waived the right to a hearing
[
420
ILCS 40/38(b)] . Hearings shall be
conducted in accordance with 32 Ill.
Adm. Code 200.
