year later, North testified before Congress at the tele-
vised Iran-Contra hearings. The handsome, young
colonel soon became a media darling. Appearing in
his medal-adorned uniform, North asserted that his
actions had been sanctioned by his superiors. He was
viewed as the perfect soldier—obedient, loyal, and
unquestioning. North’s telegenic personality won
the admiration of the American people and inspired
a hero-worshipping phenomenon known as “Ollie
Mania.” In the end, North became a symbol of mis-
guided patriotism, rogue diplomacy, and blind devo-
tion to duty.
Impact Oliver North’s activities led to questions
about Reagan’s integrity and competency: Did the
president order and approve the Iran-Contra deal
and later lie about his involvement, or was Reagan ig-
norant about the activities in his own administra-
tion? For his own part, North was prosecuted for his
crimes in the late 1980’s, but his conviction on three
counts was eventually thrown out on the grounds
that witnesses against him might have been tainted
by his own immunized testimony before Congress.
Further Reading
Bradlee, Ben, Jr.Guts and Glor y: The Rise and Fall of Ol-
iver North.New York: Donald I. Fine, 1998.
Walsh, Lawrence E.Firewall: The Iran-Contra Conspir-
acy and Cover-Up.New York: Norton, 1997.
Rhonda L. Smith
See also Iran-Contra affair; Latin America; Rea-
gan, Ronald; Reagan Doctrine; Scandals.
Nuclear Waste Policy Act of
1982
Identification America’s first law governing
nuclear waste policy
Date Signed on January 7, 1983
Landmark federal legislation was developed to search for a
safe location to store high-level nuclear waste generated in
the United States.
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) was
signed into law in January, 1983. It is occasionally re-
ferred to as the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1983, but
1982 is its official statutory year. Based on the idea
that the United States is responsible for safely dispos-
ing of the nuclear waste that it creates, the NWPA was
designed “to provide for the development of reposi-
tories for the disposal of high-level radioactive waste
and spent nuclear fuel, to establish a program of re-
search, development, and demonstrations regard-
ing the disposal of high-level radioactive waste and
spent nuclear fuel, and for other purposes.”
The Need for a National Policy High-level radioac-
tive waste is uranium fuel that has been used in a nu-
clear power plant and is no longer an efficient
source of energy. A nuclear power plant typically
uses uranium 235, which is not particularly radioac-
tive prior to its use. To create the energy, an atom of
uranium is split, creating a nuclear reaction called
fission. After the split, two or three neutrons are re-
leased, along with some heat. These “free” neutrons
bounce around and hit other atoms, causing these
atoms to split and setting off a chain reaction. As the
process continues, it produces a great deal of heat
that is used to generate electricity.
During fission, the uranium atoms become
lighter elements as they lose neutrons. These new el-
ements are radioactive isotopes called fission prod-
ucts. These isotopes are the source of almost all of
the heat and radiation in high-level waste. Some of
the remaining uranium atoms actually gain neu-
trons, which creates plutonium. Although pluto-
nium is not as hot or radioactive as the lighter ele-
ments, it has a much longer decay rate, which makes
it dangerous for a longer period of time. The radio-
activity of these various elements will eventually de-
cay, and while some of the lighter isotopes decay
within hours, others can last for thousands of years.
In fact, plutonium 239 has a half-life of twenty-four
thousand years, which means that half of the radia-
tion will have decayed in that time. Nuclear power
plants sought ways to safely store the massive amounts
of the long-lived material.
Key Provisions Arguably, the most important pro-
vision of the NWPA called for a government-run
storage facility that would be paid for by the busi-
nesses that created the high-level nuclear waste. In
short, the government would construct a place to
dispose of the waste as long as those who created the
waste paid for the construction, upkeep, and daily
operating costs of the facility. This was the primary
goal of the NWPA. The law also created the Nuclear
Waste Technical Review Board, designed to “evalu-
ate the technical and scientific validity of activities”
undertaken by the secretary of energy. Congress in-The Eighties in America Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 715