32:31-3. Definitions

Article II. Definitions

As used in this compact, unless the context clearly requires a different construction:

a. "Commission" means the Northeast Interstate Low-Level Radioactive Waste Commission established pursuant to Article IV of this compact;

b. "Custodial agency" means the agency of the government designated to act on behalf of the government owner of the regional facility;

c. "Disposal" means the isolation of low-level radioactive waste from the biosphere inhabited by man and his food chains;

d. "Facility" means a parcel of land, together with the structures, equipment and improvements thereon or appurtenant thereto, which is used or is being developed for the treatment, storage or disposal of low-level waste, but shall not include on-site treatment or storage by a generator;

e. "Generator" means a person who produces or processes low-level waste, but does not include persons who only provide a service by arranging for the collection, transportation, treatment, storage or disposal of wastes generated outside the region;

f. "High-level-waste" means (1) the highly radioactive material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from that liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentration; and (2) any other highly radioactive material determined by the federal government as requiring permanent isolation;

g. "Host state" means a party state in which a regional facility is located or being developed;

h. "Institutional control" means the continued observation, monitoring, and care of the regional facility following transfer of control of the regional facility from the operator to the custodial agency;

i. "Low-level waste" means radioactive waste that (1) is neither high-level waste not transuranic waste, nor spent nuclear fuel, nor by-product material as defined in section 11e (2) of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended; and (2) is classified by the federal government as low-level waste, consistent with existing law; but does not include waste generated as a result of atomic energy defense activities of the federal government, as defined in Pub. L. 96-573, or federal research and development activities;

j. "Party state" means any state which is a signatory party in good standing to this compact;

k. "Person" means an individual, corporation, business enterprise or other legal entity, either public or private and their legal successors;

l. "Post-closure observation and maintenance" means the continued monitoring of a closed regional facility to ensure the integrity and environmental safety of the site through compliance with applicable licensing and regulatory requirements; prevention of unwarranted intrusion, and correction of problems;

m. "Region" means the entire area of the party states;

n. "Regional facility" means a facility as defined in this section which has been designated or accepted by the commission;

o . "State" means a state of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands or any other territory subject to the laws of the United States;

p. "Storage" means the holding of waste for treatment or disposal;

q. "Transuranic waste" means waste material containing radionuclides with an atomic number greater than 92 which are excluded from shallow land burial by the federal government;

r. "Treatment" means any method, technique or process, including storage for decay, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological characteristics or composition of any waste in order to render the waste safer for transport or disposal, amenable for recovery, convertible to another usable material or reduced in volume;

s. "Waste" means low-level radioactive waste as defined in this section;

t. "Waste management" means the storage, treatment, transportation, and disposal, where applicable, of waste.

L.1983, c. 329, s. 2, Art. II, eff. Sept. 1, 1983.