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Discusses how five years after its optimistic beginnings the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA), passed by the United States (U.S.) Congress in 1982, is in trouble. NWPA set forth major national policy for the disposal of highly toxic and long-lived waste products from U.S. nuclear facilities; Supposedly objective selection of repository sites may have been politicized and influenced by substantial bias; How nation responds to latest nuclear waste management crisis will impact on the future of nuclear power and state-federal relationships.

Questions how clean is clean when speaking of the clean up of Superfund sites. Congressional efforts to define clean; A new definition by the EPA which has some concerned that the cleanups may not be thorough; The two major questions about cleaning up wast sites, one of which is who is paying for it; Pressure on the EPA from industry to relax standards; Argument of industries that tough cleanup standards have been obstacles to cleanup; Lack of federal funding to help; Second strategy of industry to avoid the costs of cleanup; Details of the law.