Cite as: 505 U. S. 144 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
Justice O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.
These cases implicate one of our Nation's newest problems of public policy and perhaps our oldest question of constitutional law. The public policy issue involves the disposal of radioactive waste: In these cases, we address the constitutionality of three provisions of the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, Pub. L. 99-240, 99 Stat. 1842, 42 U. S. C. § 2021b et seq. The constitutional question is as old as the Constitution: It consists of discerning the proper division of authority between the Federal Government and the States. We conclude that while Congress has substantial power under the Constitution to encourage the States to provide for the disposal of the radioactive waste generated within their borders, the Constitution does not confer upon Congress the ability simply to compel the States to do so. We therefore find that only two of the Act's three provisions at issue are consistent with the Constitution's allocation of power to the Federal Government.
I
We live in a world full of low level radioactive waste. Radioactive material is present in luminous watch dials, smoke alarms, measurement devices, medical fluids, research materials, and the protective gear and construction materials used by workers at nuclear power plants. Low level radioactive waste is generated by the Government, by hospitals, by research institutions, and by various industries. The waste must be isolated from humans for long periods of time,
Mountain Low-Level Radioactive Waste Compact et al. by Rex E. Lee, Carter G. Phillips, Richard D. Bernstein, and David K. Rees.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the State of Connecticut by Richard Blumenthal, Attorney General, and Aaron S. Bayer, Deputy Attorney General; for the State of Michigan by Frank J. Kelley, Attorney General, Gay Secor Hardy, Solicitor General, and Thomas L. Casey, A. Michael Leffler, and John C. Scherbarth, Assistant Attorneys General; and for US Ecology, Inc., by Irwin Goldbloom.
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