Policy Conflicts in the Process for Siting Nuclear Waste Repositories

This article reviews the sources of nuclear waste policy conflicts over the past five years and the reasons for congressional action. It also attempts to assess the prospects for future controversies and to extract lessons for public policy. This paper focuses mainly on attempts in the United States to manage and dispose of the intensely radioactive spent fuel from civilian reactors and reprocessed high-level waste from nuclear weapons production. Both types of waste are referred to as high-level waste, or HLW. Transuranic waste, which is not HLW but is radioactive waste contaminated with radionuclides heavier than uranium, is also discussed. The safe management of these wastes is an imperative regardless of the future of nuclear power.