NAC444.6793. Location restrictions: Seismic impact zones.

     1. A new municipal solid waste landfill unit or lateral expansion may not be located in a seismic impact zone, unless the owner or operator submits proof to the solid waste management authority that all structures for containment, including liners, systems for the collection of leachate and systems for the control of surface water, are designed to resist the maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material for the site. The owner or operator shall place the proof in the operating records for the site and notify the solid waste management authority that the proof has been placed in the operating records.

     2. As used in this section:

     (a) “Lithified earth material” means all rock, including all naturally occurring and naturally formed aggregates or masses of minerals or small particles of older rock which formed by the crystallization of magma or by the induration of loose sediments. The term does not include artificially created materials, such as fill, concrete and asphalt, or unconsolidated earth materials, soils or regolith lying at or near the surface of the earth.

     (b) “Maximum horizontal acceleration” means the maximum expected horizontal acceleration depicted on a seismic hazard map with a 90 percent or greater probability that the acceleration will not be exceeded in 250 years, or the maximum expected horizontal acceleration based on a seismic risk assessment for the specific site.

     (c) “Seismic impact zone” means an area with a 10 percent or greater probability that the maximum horizontal acceleration in lithified earth material will exceed 10 percent of the earth’s gravitational pull in 250 years, as determined by referencing the United States Geological Survey, Open File Report 82-1033, “Probabilistic Estimates of Maximum Acceleration and Velocity in Rock in the Contiguous United States.”

     (Added to NAC by Environmental Comm’n, eff. 11-8-93; A 3-1-94)