Commercial Low-Level Radioactive Waste
About the Commercial LLRW Disposal Facility
Permits
Draft Environmental Impact Statement
EIS Technical Support Documents
Data Quality Objectives Summary Report
US Ecology, Inc. Website
Mission
The mission of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste project is to protect the
health and safety of the citizens of the Northwest
Interstate Compact member states and to provide the most economical
management of low level radioactive wastes.
Commercial Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility
The Department of Ecology is responsible for ensuring that waste shipped
to the commercial low-level waste disposal facility operated by US. Ecology
Inc. near Richland, Washington meets the criteria set by the
Northwest Interstate Compact and the State of
Washington. Ecology is also responsible for seeing that the conditions of
the contract between the State of Washington, the Northwest Interstate
Compact and the Rocky Mountain Interstate Compact are met.
Northwest Interstate Compact
In 1980, Congress enacted legislation authorizing
states to form interstate compacts and to develop new regional disposal
facilities for low-level radioactive waste. This legislation, the
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act of 1980 as amended in 1985 (Low-Level
Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985), was the result of
efforts on the parts of the governors of the three states with existing
commercial low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) disposal facilities
(Washington, Nevada, South Carolina - the "sited states") to bring about a
more equitable policy of low-level radioactive waste disposal across the
nation.
Three years later, Congress ratified the Northwest Interstate Compact on
Low-Level Radioactive Waste Management. The guiding policy of the Compact is
the protection of the health and safety of the citizens through the
cooperative effort of the party states, while providing for the economical
management of low-level radioactive wastes within the Compact region. The
original seven member states were Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon,
Utah, and Washington. The eighth state, Wyoming, joined the Compact in March
of 1992.
As allowed by the Policy Act, the Richland, Washington disposal site
stopped accepting out-of-region LLRW as of January 1, 1993, except for that
volume agreed to in a contract with the Rocky Mountain Compact.
The Department of Ecology provides staff resources in addition to
chairing the compact for the State of Washington.
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