Nuclear waste policy and politics

The nation`s nuclear waste problem began in 1955 but did not draw widespread public attention until the early 1970s. It was then that the old Atomic Energy commission got in trouble by prematurely designating a site in Lyons, Kansas, as its first nuclear waste repository. This and several other false starts, coupled with the growing environmental and anti-nuclear movements, thrust the issue to the forefront of national consciousness. in the meantime, growing quantities of waste were accumulating at nuclear power plants across the country, creating mounting pressure for action. Congress acted in 1982 and again in 1987. Its 1987 decision was decisive: stop the nationwide search for a disposal site, and focus all efforts on Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Despite the clear Congressional mandate, the program is again bogged down in controversy, internal conflicts, and bureaucracy. Its future depends on a solution to these problems. And the solution involves charting some new and innovative paths around political and technical mine fields.