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Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act
Long title An Act to authorize the Secretary of Energy to enter into cooperative agreements with certain States respecting residual radioactive material at existing sites, to provide for the regulation of uranium mill tailings under the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 , and for other purposes.
Acronyms (colloquial) UMTRCA Nicknames Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 Enacted by the
95th United States Congress Effective November 8, 1978 Public law
95-604
Statutes at Large 92
Stat.
3021 Titles amended
42 U.S.C.: Public Health and Social Welfare
U.S.C. sections created
42 U.S.C.
ch. 88 § 7901 et seq. Public Law 97-415, 96
Stat.
2067 , subsection (e)(3) (1983) Public Law 100-616, 102
Stat.
3192 , subsection (a), section 8(b) (1988) Public Law 102-486, 106
Stat.
2776 , subsection (a) (1992) Public Law 104-259, 110
Stat.
3173 , subsection (a), subsection (d) (1996) Public Law 106-398, 114
Stat.
1654 , subsection (f) (2000)
The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (1978) is a
United States environmental law that amended the
Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and authorized the
Environmental Protection Agency to establish health and environmental standards for the stabilization,
restoration , and disposal of
uranium mill waste . Title 1 of the Act required the EPA to set environmental protection standards consistent with the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act , including
groundwater protection limits; the
Department of Energy to implement EPA standards and provide perpetual care for some sites; and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to review cleanups and license sites to states or the DOE for perpetual care.
[1] Title 1 established a uranium mill remedial action program jointly funded by the federal government and the state.
[2] Title 1 of the Act also designated 22 inactive uranium mill sites for
remediation , resulting in the containment of 40 million
cubic yards of low-level
radioactive material in UMTRCA Title 1 holding cells.
[3]
Limitations
The act was written in the "hectic final days" of the 95th U.S. Congress and contained multiple errors that made it "a nightmare of
statutory construction ," and required remedial legislation to fix.
[4] The act perpetuated the "Agreement State" program, established in 1959, in which the
Atomic Energy Commission gave regulatory authority of certain nuclear materials to states. It was unclear how much regulatory power Agreement states had, and as a result these states took little regulatory action. Sites that were owned by the federal government, the NRC, or Agreement states were ineligible for remedial action under the UMTRCA, as they were instead the responsibility of the government agencies or states who owned them.
See also
References
^
Laws We Use (Summaries):1978 - Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act(42 USC 2022 et seq.) , EPA, retrieved December 16, 2012
^
Fact Sheet on Uranium Mill Tailings , Nuclear Regulatory Commission, retrieved December 16, 2012
^
Regulatory Framework: UMTRCA Title I Disposal and Processing Sites , U.S. Department of Energy, retrieved December 16, 2012
^ Grammer, Elisa J. (1981), "The Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act of 1978 and NRC's Agreement State Program", Natural Resources Lawyer , 13 (3): 469–522 [478],
JSTOR
40922651
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Yellowstone National Park Protection Act (1872)
Forest Service Organic Administration Act (1897)
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Lacey Act (1900)
Weeks Act (1911)
North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 (1911)
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Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (1934)
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Magnuson–Stevens Act (1976)
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (1976)
Toxic Substances Control Act (1976)
Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (1977)
Uranium Mill Tailings Radiation Control Act (1978)
CERCLA (Superfund) (1980)
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (1986)
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