The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act

Agency (EPA), which was established in 1970, the same year the first Clean Air Act was passed into law. In 1972 the Clean Water Act became law, and in 1973 the Endangered Species Act became law. Other important federal environmental legislation includes the Resource Consei vation and Recoveiy Act, passed in 1976 the Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 the Nuclear Waste Policy Acts of 1982 and 1987 and the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Acts of 1980 and 1985. From 1980 to 2000 these environmental regulations, and the enforcement efforts of the EPA, have had a much greater impact on decisions made in the energy industiy than all the policy initiatives implemented by the DOE. 

Statutory and Regulatory Definitions. The earliest statutory definitions of transuranic waste were contained in AEA (1954), the National Security and Military Applications of Nuclear Energy Authorization Act (NSMA, 1980), and the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act (LLRWPA, 1980). All of these laws defined transuranic waste in terms of concentrations of long-lived, alpha-emitting... 

Requirements for Disposal. The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980 (LLRWPA, 1980), as amended by the Policy Amendments Act (LLRWPAA, 1986), governs disposal of commercial low-level waste. A particular disposal technology is not specified, but shallow-land burial was presumed in accordance with contemporary practices. The original Act (LLRWPA, 1980) directed NRC to identify alternatives to shallow-land burial for commercial low-level waste and to establish technical guidance and requirements for licensing of alternative disposal methods. NRC published technical studies of alternative disposal technologies (Bennett, 1985 Bennett and Warriner, 1985 Bennett et al., 1984 Miller and Bennett, 1985 Warriner and Bennett, 1985), but specific licensing criteria for these alternatives have not been established. 

Finally, Mike McCormack, former Washington state Congressman, discusses the Federal legislation affecting nuclear waste disposal in the United States and the impact of several new laws passed by the Congress— the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980. 

Another piece of legislation, The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980, establishes the policy that each state is responsible for disposal of the commercial low-level waste generated within its borders and that such waste can be most safely and efficiently managed on a regional basis. The law encourages states to enter into interstate compacts to establish and operate regional disposal facilities for low-level waste. This law requires subsequent approval of the compacts by the Congress. 

Reliable access to off-site disposal will depend on the establishment of regional sites, which have been slow to develop under the Low-level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980. Moreover, when established, regional low-level radioactive waste sites may not immediately accommodate laboratory radioactive-biological waste. As discussed earlier in this chapter, choice of off-site disposal must involve careful consideration of the safety record of the facOity to ensure that the generator s long-term responsibility is liability-free. 

LLRW is variously defined by law and regulation in the United States. Under provisions of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act (the Act) LLRW is defined as... 

Statutory and Regulatory Definitions. Current statutory definitions of low-level waste are contained in NWPA (1982) and the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act (LLRWPAA, 1986). In the Nuclear Waste Policy Act, low-level waste is defined as radioactive waste that ... 

NRC has developed licensing criteria for near-surface disposal of waste that contains source, special nuclear, or byproduct materials in 10 CFR Part 61 (NRC, 1982a). These regulations are intended to apply primarily to disposal of commercial low-level waste. They do not include a definition of low-level waste but essentially defer to the current statutory definition in the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985. Thus, low-level waste can include wastes with high concentrations of radionuclides that are not generally acceptable for near-surface disposal in accordance with the licensing criteria in 10 CFR Part 61 (NRC, 1982a). 

Some definitions of low-level waste differ from the one summarized above. In particular, transuranic waste is not excluded in the definition in the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, and transuranic waste thus is a form of low-level waste. However, this inconsistency has little practical significance, because the Amendments Act governs disposal of commercial low-level waste only, unless DOE waste is sent to a commercial facility, and there is very little commercial transuranic waste requiring disposal. 

After initial efforts to develop regional disposal facilities revealed the need for additional legislative specification. Congress passed the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act (the Amendments Act) that authorized a compact with an operating site to disallow the importation of LLRW generated in states outside the compact beginning in 1993 (Public Law 99-240). 

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