Regulatory Authority of the Rocky Mountain States for Low-Level Radioactive Waste Packaging and Transportation

摘要

The newly-formed Rocky Mountain Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact is an interstate agreement for the management of low-level radioactive waste (LLW). Eligible members of the compact are Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Each state must ratify the compact within its legislature for the compact to become effective in that state and to make that state a full-fledged member of the compact. By so adopting the compact, each state agrees to the terms and conditions specified therein. Among those terms and conditions are provisions requiring each member state to adopt and enforce procedures requiring low-level waste shipments originating within its borders and destined for a regional facility to conform to packaging and transportation requirements and regulations. These procedures are to include periodic inspections of packaging and shipping practices, periodic inspections of waste containers while in the custody of carriers and appropriate enforcement actions for violations. To carry out this responsibility, each state must have an adequate statutory and regulatory inspection and enforcement authority to ensure the safe transportation of low-level radioactive waste. Three states in the compact region, Arizona, Utah and Wyoming, have incorporated the Department of Transportation regulations in their entirety, and have no published rules and regulations of their own. The other states in the compact, Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico all have separate rules and regulations that incorporate the DOT regulations. A brief description of the regulatory requirements of each state is presented. (ERA citation 08:050749)