Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982

Commentary

Breaking Down Nuclear Waste as a Two-Part Issue

The U.S. Department of Energy is now planning separate repositories for commercial waste and the waste from the military's nuclear weapons production instead of disposing of both in the same repository as originally intended. Decoupling different parts of the nuclear waste problem is a small but positive step forward.

Testimony

The Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013

The Nuclear Waste Administration Act (S. 1240) appears to strike a balance between the competing values of public accountability and insulation from political influence, write Lynn Davis and Debra Knopman.

Commentary

San Onofre Risk Factors

The ongoing effort to open a spent fuel repository in the U.S. demonstrates the magnitude of the technical and political challenges of such an undertaking, writes Tom LaTourrette.

News Release

Examining Different Forms of Organizations for Managing and Disposing of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive ...

A federal government corporation and an independent government agency are the two most promising models for a new organization to manage and dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States.

Report

Examining Different Forms of Organizations for Managing and Disposing of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste

A federal government corporation and an independent government agency are the two most promising models for a new organization to manage and dispose of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States.

Research Brief

Options for an Organization to Manage and Dispose of Radioactive Materials

RAND researchers describe the attributes of potential organizational models and the steps needed to choose the form of a new organization charged with managing and disposing of commercial and defense high-level radioactive materials.

News Release

Attention to Societal Priorities Can Help Guide Nuclear Waste Management Policy

To break the impasse over how to deal with spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants, policymakers should focus on how various waste management strategies address societal priorities related to nuclear energy.

Testimony

Policy Implications of Alternative Spent Nuclear Fuel Management Strategies

Testimony presented before the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future on November 15, 2010.

Report

Attention to Societal Priorities Can Help Guide Nuclear Waste Management Policy

To break the impasse over how to deal with spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants policymakers should focus on how various waste management strategies address societal priorities related to nuclear energy.

Report

Managing Waste With and Without Plutonium Separation

This study examines whether reprocessing and plutonium recycle will make radioactive waste management more effective and economical.

Report

History, Structure, and Institutional Overview of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982

The author summarizes the key features of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA); describes the siting process for a waste repository and recent implementation history, including accomplishment of major milestones to date; ...

Report

Nuclear waste disposal: can government cope?

With the passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the policy debate surrounding nuclear waste management shifted from broad issues of problem definition to the question of "how" to implement the provisions of the Act. Among the more important...

People

Debra Knopman