The federal structure: Can Congress commmandeer Nevada to participate in its federal high level waste disposal program?

This article examines the national disposal system for nuclear waste under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), as enacted in 1982 and amended in 1987 and 1992, focusing particularly on the constitutionality of the Act's open-quotes notice of disapprovalclose quotes and open-quotes congressional overrideclose quotes provisions. Part I of this article describes the notice of disapproval and congressional override provisions of the NWPA, including a brief analysis of their legislative history. Part II discusses the advantages of the federal structure as a protection against the exercise of autocratic congressional power, and studies the United States Supreme Court's approach to federalism in two recent cases. Part III addresses Nevada's experience under the NWPA. Parts IV and V analyze the constitutionality of the notice of disapproval and congressional override provisions of the NWPA in light of these two Supreme Court holdings. Part VI discusses the open-quotes environmental subsidyclose quotes imposed by the NWPA. Part VII concludes the article with a more practical, workable and constitutionally-defensible alternative to the existing waste disposal siting process