Assuring Access to Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facilities for Non-DOE Users of Radioactive Materials: Solutions -Outside the Box

This paper proposes both near-term and long-term solutions for disposal of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) Classes B and C generated by non-DOE organizations in thirty-six states that will lose access to the Barnwell, SC disposal facility on July 1, 2008. The solutions proposed here call for the federal government, specifically the US Department of Energy (DOE), to play a key role and are outside the existing interstate compact framework established by the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980 (amended in 1985) and subsequent state ratification and Congressional consent statutes. (authors)