The Politics of Highly Radioactive Waste Disposal

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The Politics of Highly Radioactive Waste Disposal

Nuclear waste disposal is a political problem, not a technical problem.1

— Dr. Edward Teller

Highly radioactive waste disposal has become one of the most controversial aspects of nuclear technology. As the amount of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level radioactive waste from defense-related processing plants has continued to mount, the issue has become increasingly contentious and politicized.2 The politicization of this issue is especially evident in the site selection process of a permanent national repository for the disposal of highly radioactive waste.

Paradoxically, as the need for action has become more acute, the conflict generated by the politicization of the site selection process has delayed progress on the establishment of a permanent nuclear waste storage facility. As early as 1957, the National Academy of Sciences recommended the disposal of radioactive waste in deep underground rock as the best means of protecting public health and safety.3 However, it was not until 25 years later that the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 began the process of establishing a deep, underground permanent national storage repository for highly radioactive waste.

The 1982 Act mandated that the Department of Energy (DOE) would study multiple sites in the West and select one to be ready to serve as the first national repository for highly radioactive waste by January 31, 1998.4 A second site in the East, where the majority of highly radioactive material is generated, would be designated later. The site selection process was slow and arduous due to opposition generated by states identified as potential hosts for a national radioactive...

... middle of paper ...

...S Issue Brief, Congressional Research Service, December 3, 1996, [http://www.cnie.org/nle/eng-18.html], 5.

29 Mark Holt and Zachary Davis, "Nuclear Energy Policy," CRS Issue Brief, Congressional Research Service, updated December 5, 1996, [http://www.cnie.org/nle/eng-5.html], 7.

30 Will Nixon, "High Energy," E/The Environmental Magazine, [http://www.adams.ind.net/Environment.html], May/June 1995, 4.

31 Associated Press, "Court: U.S. must take nuclear waste by 1998," The Courier, July 24, 1996, A1.

32 See U.S. Congress (S. 1271), "Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996," Congressional Record,104th Congress, 2d Session. Also see U.S. Congress (S. 1936), "Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996," Congressional Record, 104th Congress, 2d Session.

33 See U.S. Congress (S. 104), “Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997,” Congressional Record, 105th Congress, 1st Session.

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