Time to take control: the states and low-level radioactive waste

Discussed is the progress states have made in the challenge of regional cooperation in the management of low-level radioactive wastes. The immediate need for new disposal sites and a long-term need for additional sites to handle the steadily increasing amounts of low-level wastes are described. Success depends on states taking ownership of the problem. The states are acting under a federal law enacted last year which encourages the formation of interstate compacts for dealing with low-level wastes. By 1986, a disposal site can refuse to accept wastes from a state that is not part of an interstate compact. Problems confronted in the siting of disposal facilities are discussed. A state may opt for establishing its own facility or stop generating low-level wastes