- Low-level nuclear waste includes such items as contaminated protective clothing, tools, rags, medical tubes, clothing, reactor water treatment residue, luminous dials and lab animal carcasses and tissues. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, in conjunction with special arrangements for individual states, regulates commercial low-level waste disposal sites. The disposal sites design must comply with NRC safety standards. Low-level radioactive waste must remain stored until it has decayed completely and can then be disposed of as ordinary trash. Hospitals can store low-level radioactive material with short half-lives until it has decayed and then dispose of it as trash.
- High-level radioactive waste is made up of the spent fuel rods from nuclear reactors and is regulated by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Regulations demand precise design of the storage facility. Also spelled out in the regulations are specifics that state exactly how the waste is to be handled, tested, monitored and stored. A protective shield must be in place to keep the spent fuel away from humans. The barrier must be made of concrete, lead, steel, water or "other suitable" materials to protect engineers and health physicists.
- Uranium mine tailings are the byproduct of mining uranium ore. The tailings are transported from the mine to a remote impound site for disposal. The mine tailings disposal site must not be located on a fault line or near an area where earthquakes are a threat. In addition, it cannot be located near a river's flood plain and cannot pose a threat to ground water. Part 40, Appendix A of the NRC's regulations spells out the procedures for tailings (see Resources).
- Because of the expense and hazardous nature of reprocessing radioactive waste, it is essentially a non-issue. Plutonium and uranium have not been extracted from commercial waste since the Ford administration. Because of the Nuclear Weapons Non-Proliferation Act, all reprocessing was banned during the Carter administration.
- Yucca Mountain, located in the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada, is set to become the nation's high-level nuclear waste repository. The Department of Energy is responsible for the construction and administration of the facility, which will adhere to the regulations covering the building, storage and transportation of high-level radioactive waste. These regulations are set by the Federal Accountability for Nuclear Waste Storage Act of 2007. Environmental and safety standards will be the responsibility of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be responsible for licensing, as well as any unforeseen questions which may arise.
