1) It takes effect on July 9, 2000.
2) It allows one year to dispose of radioactive waste.
3) It allows for "decay-in-storage" practice.
For us, that means accurately characterizing about 20 cubic meters of slightly contaminated (or formerly-slightly-contaminated) wipes, filters, personnel protective equipment, and the like. It also would involve disposing of several hundred pounds of metallic beamline components and other hard material. Although this is not a huge job compared to some of the other DOE labs, it is a substantial amount of work for a small group and we are planning to hire a contract service to help us catch up.
Be-7 and H-3 are our main considerations. Since neither can be detected with field equipment, we will have to do careful characterization on the basis of process knowledge and workplace samples. We are also considering bulk analysis for gamma emitters as part of our characterization process.
For materials contaminated principally by Be-7, we are considering decay in storage and disposal of the item as "non-radioactive" pending approval by DOE of the methodology. We openly solicit your comments, experience, and suggestions.