staged development

One Step at a Time: The Staged Development of Geologic Repositories for High-Level Radioactive Waste - Summary

A new report from the National Academies proposes a management approach called “adaptive staging” as a promising means to develop geologic repositories for high-level waste such as the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Adaptive staging is a learn-as-you-go process that enables project managers to continuously reevaluate and adjust the program in response to new knowledge and stakeholder input.

How to Shape a Successful Repository Program: Staged Development of Geologic Repositories for High-level Waste

Read more about How to Shape a Successful Repository Program: Staged Development of Geologic Repositories for High-level Waste

Programs to manage and ultimately dispose of high-level radioactive wastes are unique from scientific and technological as well as socio-political aspects. From a scientific and technological perspective, high-level radioactive wastes remain potentially hazardous for geological time periods—many millennia—and scientific and technological programs must be put in place that result in a system that provides high confidence that the wastes will be isolated from the accessible environment for these many thousands of years.