Establishing Dual Regulation of Mixed Waste

12 Section 1006(a) of RCRA (1976) states that Nothing in this Act shall be construed to apply to (or authorize any State, interstate, or local authority to regulate) any activity or substance which is subject to. . . the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2011 and following) except to the extent that such application (or regulation) is not inconsistent with the requirements of such Acts.  

The Court found in favor of LEAF by concluding that application of RCRA to the Y-12 Plant was not inconsistent with AEA. The Court also concluded that the most reasonable reconciliation of the two statutes was that facilities regulated under AEA are subject to RCRA, except RCRA does not apply to those materials that are expressly regulated under AEA (i.e., source, special nuclear, and byproduct materials). 

In 1986, EPA published a notice that a state must have the authority to regulate mixed waste in order for that state to obtain and 

DOE acknowledged the dual regulatory framework for mixed waste in 1987 with a notice clarifying the definition of byproduct material (DOE, 1987b). In this notice, DOE issued a final interpretive rule establishing that the exclusion of byproduct material at Section 1004(27) of RCRA applied only to the radionuclides in mixed waste and that the nonradioactive portion of the waste was subject to RCRA. In addition, in 1987, DOE recognized that RCRA LDRs (see Section 4.2.2) and other RCRA requirements applied to transuranic waste intended for disposal at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (see Section 4.1.2.3.2). 

which has a radioactive waste disposal license and a RCRA permit from the state, accepts large volumes of mixed waste containing low concentrations of radionuclides that resembles uranium or thorium mill tailings. 

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