Interstate compacts for low-level radioactive waste disposal

The chapter focuses on the mechanism chosen by the U.S. Congress to spread the burden of low-level radioactive waste disposal: the formation of interstate compacts for constructing and operating disposal sites. It examines the impact of a third constitutional provision, the Compact Clause, on state efforts to reject out-of-state wastes. This provision permits the states to enter into congressionally approved interstate compacts or agreements. The chapter analyzes the extent to which an interstate compact is an enforceable contract, the legal rights and obligations of states participating in such agreements, and the thorny problems that may arise from trying to use interstate compacts to solve the low-level waste disposal problem