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The Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act was passed making states responsible
for the disposal of their own low-level nuclear waste, such as from hospitals
and industry. Contaminated with small amounts of radioactivity, low-level
wastes come from uranium enrichment, reactors, medical diagnostic procedures,
and research and development projects. The waste is usually made of
contaminated rags, paper, filters, tools, equipment, and protective clothing.
Low-level wastes are a problem mainly because of their huge volume. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency estimates that there will be about one billion
cubic feet of low-level wastes in the Unites States by the year 2000.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (also
known as Superfund) was passed in response to the discovery in the late 1970's
of a large number of abandoned, leaking hazardous waste dumps. Under Superfund,
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identifies hazardous sites,
takes appropriate action, and sees that the responsible party pays for the
cleanup. Superfund also established a Trust Fund to pay for cleanup. A site
must be on the National Priorities List (NPL) to receive cleanup money from the
Trust Fund. Kept by the EPA, the NPL is a list of the most serious uncontrolled
or abandoned hazardous wastes sites in the country. EPA updates the NPL yearly.
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