Reagan Signs Bill on Nuclear Waste Dumps
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WASHINGTON — President Reagan signed legislation Wednesday to establish a regional system to dispose of the nation’s low-level radioactive nuclear waste by the early 1990s.
Congress approved the legislation Dec. 19, heading off a potential crisis in the disposal of the waste--which includes clothes, tools and other materials from power plants, hospitals and university laboratories. Currently, facilities in Barnwell, S.C., Hanford, Wash., and Beatty, Nev., dispose of all the nation’s low-level waste.
Under a 1980 law, states--either alone or in “regional compacts”--were to develop alternatives to the three existing sites by this year, but none were ready.
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