Regional compacts and waste disposal

Eight Southeastern states came together in 1983, three years after Congress dumped the issue in their laps, and created the Southeast Compact to jointly manage the region's low-level radioactive wastes. They selected North Carolina to site, build, and operate a new disposal facility, asked South Carolina to keep its existing facility open until the new one was ready, and then waited - and waited and waited. The project is years behind schedule and more than $50 million over budget. Currently, environmental testing is under way on two potential sites; the current target date for operation is early 1996 - five years after the initial 1991 target date. Another sticky problem also has been solved: The South Carolina legislature has agreed to keep its current Barnwell facility open until 1996 - for a price