Article III. Rights, Responsibilities and Obligations of Party States
a. There shall be regional facilities sufficient to dispose of the low-level waste generated within the region. Each regional facility shall be capable of disposing of such low-level waste but in the form(s) required by regulations or license conditions. Specialized facilities for particular types of low-level waste management, reduction or treatment may not be developed in any party state unless they are in accordance with the laws and regulations of such state and applicable federal laws and regulations.
b. Each party state shall have equal access as other party states to regional facilities within the region and accepting low-level waste, provided, however, that the host state may close the regional facility located within its borders when necessary for public health and safety. However, a host state shall send notification to the Commission in writing within three (3) days of its action, and shall, within thirty (30) working days, provide in writing the reasons for the closing.
c. Pennsylvania and party states which generated 25 percent or more of the volume or curies of low-level waste generated by Pennsylvania based on a comparison of averages over the three years 1982 through 1984 are designated as “initial host states” and are required to develop and host low-level waste sites as regional facilities. The percentage of waste from each state shall be determined by cubic foot volume or total curie content, whichever is greater.
d. Party states which generated less than 25 percent of the volume or curies of low-level waste generated by Pennsylvania based on a comparison of averages over the years 1982 through 1984 shall be exempt from initial host state responsibilities. These states shall continue to be exempt as long as they generate less than the 25 percent threshold over successive 3-year periods. Once a state generates an average of 25 percent or more of the volume or curies generated by Pennsylvania over a successive 3-year period, it shall be designated as a “host state” for a 30-year period by the Commission and shall immediately initiate development of a regional facility to be operational within five years. Such host state shall be prepared to accept at its regional facility low-level waste at least equal to that generated in the state. With Commission approval, any party state may volunteer to host a regional facility. The percentage of waste from each state shall be determined by either a cubic foot volume or total curie content, whichever is greater.
e. Pennsylvania and other host states are obligated to develop regional facilities for the duration of this compact. All regional facilities shall be designed for at least a thirty-year useful life. At the end of the facility’s life, normal closure and maintenance procedures shall be initiated in accordance with the applicable requirements of the host state and the federal government. Each host state’s obligation for operating regional facilities shall remain as long as the state continues to produce over a 3-year period 25 percent or more of the volume or curies of low-level waste generated by Pennsylvania.
f. Each host state shall:
1. Cause a regional facility to be sited and developed on a timely basis.
2. Ensure by law, consistent with applicable state and federal law, the protection and preservation of public health, safety and environmental quality in the siting, design, development, licensure, or other regulation, operation, closure, decommissioning, long-term care and the institutional control period of the regional facility within the state. To the extent authorized by federal law, a host state may adopt more stringent laws, rules or regulations than required by federal law.
3. Ensure and maintain a manifest system which documents all waste-related activities of generators, brokers, carriers and related activities of generators, brokers, carriers and operators, and establish the chain of custody of waste from its initial generation to the end of its hazardous life. Copies of all such manifests shall be submitted to the Commission on a timely basis.
4. Ensure that charges for disposal of low-level waste at the regional facility are sufficient to fully fund the safe disposal and perpetual care of the regional facility and that charges are assessed without discrimination as to the party state of origin.
5. Submit an annual report to the Commission on the status of the regional facility which contains projections of the anticipated future capacity.
6. Notify the Commission immediately if any exigency arises requiring the possible temporary or permanent closure of a regional facility within the state at a time earlier than was projected in the state’s most recent annual report to the Commission.
7. Require that the institutional control period of any disposal facility be at least as long as the hazardous life, as defined in Article I h, of the radioactive materials that are disposed at that facility.
8. Prohibit the use of any shallow land burial, as defined in Article I r, and develop alternative means for treatment, storage and disposal of low-level waste.
9. Establish by law, to the extent not prohibited by federal law, requirements for financial responsibility, including, but not limited to:
(a) Requirements for the purchase and maintenance of adequate insurance by generators, brokers, carriers and operators of the regional facility;
(b) Requirements for the establishment of a long-term care fund to be funded by a fee placed on generators to pay for preventive or corrective measures of low-level waste to the regional facility; and
(c) Any further financial responsibility requirements that shall be submitted by generators, brokers, carriers and operators as deemed necessary by the host state.
g. Each party state:
1. Shall appropriate its portion of the Commission’s initial and annual budgets as set out in Article II c 2 and 3.
2. To the extent authorized by federal law shall develop and enforce procedures requiring low-level waste shipments originating within its borders and destined for a regional facility to conform to volume reduction, packaging, and transportation requirements and regulations as well as any other requirements specified by the regional facility. Such procedures shall include but are not limited to:
(a) Periodic inspections of packaging and shipping practices;
(b) Periodic inspections of low-level waste containers while in custody of carriers; and
(c) Appropriate enforcement actions with respect to violations.
3. To the extent authorized by federal law, shall after receiving notification from a host state or other person that a person in a party state has violated volume reduction, packaging, shipping or transportation requirements or regulations, take appropriate action to ensure that violations do not recur. Appropriate action shall include, but is not limited to, the requirement that a bond be posted by the violator to pay the cost of repackaging at the regional facility and the requirement that future shipments be inspected. Appropriate action may also include suspension of the violator’s use of the regional facility. Should such suspension be imposed, the suspension shall remain in effect until such time as the violator has, to the satisfaction of the party state imposing such suspension, complied with the appropriate requirements or regulations upon which the suspension was based and has taken appropriate action to ensure that such violation or violations do not recur.
4. Shall maintain a registry of all generators and quantities generated within the state.
h. In the event of liability arising from the operation of any regional facility and during and after closure of that facility, each party state shall share in that liability in an amount equal to that state’s share of the region’s low-level waste disposed of at the facility. If such liability arises from negligence, malfeasance or neglect on the part of a host state or any party state, then any other host or party state(s) may make any claim allowable under law for that negligence, malfeasance or neglect. If such liability arises from a particular waste shipment or shipments to, or quantity of waste or condition at, the regional facility, then any host or party state may make any claim allowable under law for such liability. The percentage of waste shall be based on volume of waste or total curie content.
i. A party state which fails to fulfill its obligations, including timely funding of the Commission may have its privileges under the compact suspended or its membership in the compact revoked by the Commission and be subject to any other legal and equitable remedies available to the party states.