42 U.S.C. § 7901 — Congressional findings and purposes

(a) Congress finds that uranium mill tailings at active and inactive mills may pose a potential and significant radiation health hazard. Protecting public health, safety, and welfare and regulating interstate commerce require every reasonable effort to stabilize, dispose of, and control the tailings safely and in an environmentally sound way. The effort must prevent or minimize radon entering the environment and other environmental hazards. (b) The chapter’s purposes are to provide (1), with interested States, Indian tribes, and owners or controllers of inactive sites, assessment and remedial action at those sites, including practicable reprocessing to recover residual uranium and other mineral value where appropriate, to stabilize and control tailings safely and environmentally soundly and minimize or eliminate public radiation hazards; and (2) a program regulating tailings during uranium or thorium ore processing at active mills and after operations end, for the same stabilization, control, and radiation-hazard goals.