Moving toward a solution: a low-level radioactive waste management act for Massachusetts

After more than three years of analysis and deliberation, the Special Legislative Commission on Low-Level Radioactive Waste has developed and filed with the Legislature the Massachusetts Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management Act. The act includes a multi-tiered process for the environmental screening of the entire state to site a low-level waste facility in Massachusetts, should it be determined that such a facility is necessary. Legislators, representatives of environmental and public interest organizations, state agencies, and the industrial, academic, medical, and nuclear power producing generators of low-level radioactive waste have worked with each other and the public to develop consensus legislation that ensures protection of public health while meeting Massachusetts' federally mandated responsibility. The process used to arrive at a consensus document and the critical policy initiatives developed are discussed