HOSTING A NATIONAL LOW-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE SUMMIT TO EXPLORE SITING OPTIONS FOR NEW DISPOSAL FACILITIES

The National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL) Low-Level Radioactive Waste Working Group hosted a summit meeting on April 9, 1999, in Jacksonville, Florida, to address low-level radioactive waste policy. Low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) site development programs have been halted, suspended, postponed or otherwise rendered dormant in California, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. The failure of these development efforts has led to frequent suggestions for alternatives to the dilemma of siting new LLRW disposal facilities. The summit was convened by the working group as an opportunity to discuss suggestions openly and frankly and to propose innovations. The working group focused on various LLRW disposal alternatives; a wide range of views from stakeholders, experts and other interested parties also were presented. NCSL sponsored the meeting due to a growing concern that the current national policy for providing LLRW disposal capacity was not yielding the desired results. One primary purpose of the meeting was to elicit testimony from legislators, LLRW management experts and stakeholders that would assist the working group as it examined four specific policy options for future LLRW disposal policy. The options were: • Dissolve the low-level radioactive waste disposal compacts to restore market incentives; • Advocate federal disposal of commercial low-level radioactive waste; • Allow the compact system to succeed, and; • Restore federal incentives for site development. These options were not intended to be either discrete or mutually exclusive. Multiple variations that combine specific features from several options are possible and may have greater appeal to policymakers, generators and the public than any of the four options as defined.