Improving the regulation and management of low-activity radioactive wastes.

This paper summarizes the first phase of a study in progress by a committee of the National Research Council's Board on Radioactive Waste Management. The Board initiated the study after observing that statutes and regulations administered by the federal and state agencies that control low-activity radioactive wastes have developed as a patchwork over almost 60 y. These controls usually reflect the enterprise or process that produced the waste rather than the waste's radiological hazard.