Survey of National Programs for Managing High-Level Radioactive Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel

The creation of high-activity, long-lived radioactive waste is an inevitable consequence of generating electricity in nuclear power plants. It also is an inevitable consequence of engaging in a set of activities associated with national defense, ranging from propelling nuclear submarines to producing the fissionable materials needed to construct nuclear weapons. Early in the nuclear era, the very-longterm management and the ultimate disposition of those wastes was not a high priority. By the mid-1970s, however, most nuclear-capable nations had begun to focus more intently on developing plans to ensure over the very long term that the wastes would not endanger public health and safety or do serious damage to the environment.