Presented at the International Conference on Geologic Repositories, Denver, CO, November 1, 1999
The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1987 established the federal<br/>Office of the Nuclear Waste Negotiator for a 5-year period. The Nuclear<br/>Waste Negotiator, appointed by the President and confirmed by the<br/>Senate, was empowered to attempt to find a state or Indian tribe willing<br/>to host a repository or a monitored retrievable storage (MB) facility for the<br/>permanent or temporary storage of nuclear waste, respectively.
In order to gain a satisfactory understanding of public attitudes toward issues in nuclear waste management, it is important to recognize the context in which the public views those issues. Nuclear waste, in the minds of the public, is just one aspect of the nuclear power issue. Nuclear power, in turn, is just one means of avoiding energy shortage.
On March 11, 2011, the Township of Creighton expressed interest in learning more about the Nuclear Waste Management Organization site selection process to find an informed and willing community to host a deep geological repository for Canada’s used nuclear fuel (NWMO, 2010). This report summarizes the findings of an initial screening, conducted by Golder Associates Ltd., to evaluate the potential suitability of the Creighton area against five screening criteria using readily available information.
The U.S. Congress authorized the development of a monitored retrievable storage facility (MRS) as part of the high-level radioactive waste management system. The MRS will be used to receive, store, and stage shipments of intact spent fuel to the permanent repository. Early development of the MRS is crucial to honoring the long-standing Federal commitment to timely and adequate waste acceptance. The Department of Energy's (DO E) objective is initial waste acceptance at the MRS beginning in 1998.
Current U.S. nuclear waste law and policy is bankrupt. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) set a 1998 deadline for opening a deep geologic repository to receive spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW) from reprocessing. In 1987, Congress amended the Act to designate Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the only potential site, and severely restricted the development of any federal facility for consolidated storage of nuclear waste. Nevada’s unrelenting opposition to the Yucca repository eventually succeeded with the election of Barack Obama as President.
By the end of this century, the United States plans to begin operating the first geologic repository for the permanent disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive Waste. Public Law 97-425, the Nuclear waste Policy Act of 1982 (the Act), specifies the process for selecting a repository site, and constructing, operating, closing, and decommissioning the repository.
RD&D Programme 2010 presents SKB’s plans for research, development and demonstration during<br/>the period 2011–2016. SKB’s activities are divided into two main areas: the programme for low- and<br/>intermediate-level waste (the LILW Programme) and the Nuclear Fuel Programme.
A summary of the radioactive waste management programs in Finland, including the national nuclear energy context; sources, types, and quantities of waste; radioactive waste management policies and programs; research and development; decommissioning and dismantling policies and projects; transport; authorities and implementing organizations; financing; and public information.
Over the course of the last two and a half years, Committee Republicans have reviewed in depth Administration actions associated with the Yucca Mountain Project and disposal of the Nation‘s spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Focusing in particular on the scientific and technical information and processes associated with key policy decisions, the Committee‘s effort included numerous letters to Administration officials, extensive questioning at Committee hearings, and acquisition and review of thousands of pages of internal documents.
Waste siting gridlock in the United States and Canada has led to experimentation with voluntary and hybrid or "mixed mode" siting. We review nuclear and hazardous waste voluntary siting (VS) results for selected cases in the U.S. and Canada. Findings indicate that VS is not a panacea. but that current siting efforts are inadequate tests of its potential. We suggest trials of improved VS protocols and more effort on hybrid approaches in which the developer chooses the site but is required to reach agreement on conditions with local stakeholders.
Nuclear waste disposal in the USA is a difficult policy issue infused with science, technology, and politics. This issue provides an example of the co-production of scientific knowledge and politics through public policy. The proponents of a repository site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, argue that their decision to go ahead with the site is based on ‘sound science’, but the science they use to uphold their decision is influenced by politics. In turn, the politics of site selection has been altered by the scientific knowledge produced.
The purpose of this report is a comparison of the structures for nuclear waste management in France, Sweden and UK. The source materials for this comparison are studies carried out in each of these countries by Syncho Ltd. over the past 5 years. The Swedish structural review was sponsored by SKI and SSI, and carried out as a pilot study during the years 1996 and 1997 (Espejo & Gill, 1998) as part of the RISCOM I project.
With the first 100 days of the Obama Administration behind us, the Institute for 21st Century Energy presents this nuclear waste policy document that recounts the history of the country’s nuclear waste policy, discusses the mechanics of the issue, and offers specific recommendations to the Obama Administration and the U.S. Congress.
