This report presents the findings and conclusions of OTA's analysis of Federal policy
for the management of commercial high-level radioactive waste. It represents a major update
and expansion of the analysis presented to Congress in our summary report, Managing
Commercial High-Level Radioactive Waste, published in April of 1982 during the
debate leading to passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA). This new
report is intended to contribute to the implementation of NWPA, and in particular to

At the request of the staff to the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (“BRC”), we have reviewed the following questions:
1. Is there legal authority for DOE or any other entity to undertake to site a repository for “co-mingled” nuclear materials (i.e., civilian and defense spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW)) at any site other than Yucca Mountain?

US policy for management of used nuclear fuel (UNF) and high level radioactive wastes (HLRW) is at a crossroads, and the success of new policy directions will depend in part on broad public acceptance and support. In this paper I provide an overview of the evidence concerning the beliefs and concerns of members of the American public regarding UNF and HLNW. I also characterize the evidence on American’s policy preferences for management of these materials.

This evaluation is prepared by the Mined Geologic Disposal System (MGDS) Waste Package Development Department (WPDD) to provide analyses of disposal of aluminum (AI)-based Department of Energy-owned research reactor spent nuclear fuel (DOE-SNF) in a codisposal waste package with five canisters of high-level waste (HLW). The analysis was performed in sufficient detail to establish the technical viability of the Al-based DOE-SNF codisposal canister option.

The purpose of this U.S. Department of Energy Nuclear Waste Fund Fee Adequacy Assessment
Report (Assessment) is to present an analysis of the adequacy of the fee being paid by nuclear
power utilities for the permanent disposal of their SNF and HLW by the United States
government.
This Assessment consists of six sections: Section 1 provides historical context and a comparison
to previous fee adequacy assessments; Section 2 describes the system, cost, income, and

The United States currently has no place to dispose of the high-level radioactive waste
resulting from the production of the nuclear weapons and the operation of nuclear
electronic power plants. The only option under formal consideration at this time is to place
the waste in an underground geologic repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. However,
there is strong public debate about whether such a repository could protect humans from
the radioactive waste that will be dangerous for many thousands of years. This book

Dear Mr. Frazier:
At our request, the Commission staff is in the process of assembling information on the costs and financing of the US program to manage used fuel and high-level nuclear wastes. To assist in the completion of this effort, it would be most helpful if the Department could provide the information listed int the attachment.
...

The characteristics of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste are described, and options for permanent disposal that have been considered are described. These include:
•disposal in a mined geological formation,
•disposal in a multinational repository, perhaps on an unoccupied island,
•by in situ melting, perhaps in underground nuclear test cavities,
•sub-seabed disposal,
•disposal in deep boreholes,
•disposal by melting through ice sheets or permafrost,
•disposal by sending the wastes into space, and

The purpose of this document is to describe the Monitored Retrievable Storage (MRS) Project and to establish approved cost and schedule baselines against which overall progress and management effectiveness shall be measured. For the sake of brevity, this Project Plan will be referred to as the Plan throughout this document.

This report summarizes the results of EPA's review of the AEC
draft environmental statement, "Management of Commercial High-Level
and Transuranium-Contaminated Radioactive Waste" (WASH-1539). The
means by which high-level and long-lived radioactive wastes are
managed constitutes one of the most important questions upon which
the public acceptability of nuclear power, with its social and economic
benefits, will be determined. While the generation of power by
nuclear means offers certain benefits from the environmental viewpoint,