COLUMBIA --- Hospitals and universities across the country will have to make new arrangements starting next week when the Barnwell, S.C., low-level radioactive waste facility closes its doors to all but three states.

"A lot of folks are going suffer," said Danny Black, the president of SouthernCarolina Regional Development Alliance.

Starting Tuesday, only South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey will be able to continue using the facility. It used to accept waste from 37 states.

The other customers producing radioactive waste might have to "store it in the back room or give it to somebody to haul off," Mr. Black said.

The reduction is the result of the Atlantic Compact, which South Carolina lawmakers approved in 2000 as a way to phase the state out of waste-storage operations.

The facility, in operation since 1971, is one of two sites in the country that accepts all three categories of low-level waste, including contaminated reactor components, syringes, lab animal carcasses and tissues. The other facility is in Richland, Wash.; it accepts waste from 11 states.

"The use of nuclear materials is a lot more widespread than most people understand," said John Ward, a spokesman for EnergySolutions, which runs the Barnwell site. "Ultimately, somebody probably is going to have to develop more long-term disposal options."

Until that happens, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is advising entities on how to take care of waste, while warning them that on-site storage is not a substitute for disposal.