THE US EFFORT TO DISPOSE OF HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE by Gordon R. Thompson Reprinted from ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT VOLUME 19 No. 3+4 2008 MULTI-SCIENCE PUBLISHING CO. LTD. 5 Wates Way, Brentwood, Essex CM15 9TB, United Kingdom 391 THE US EFFORT TO DISPOSE OF HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE Gordon R. Thompson George Perkins Marsh Institute Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Email:
[email protected] ABSTRACT This paper reviews the history of the US effort to dispose of high-level radioactive waste created by operating nuclear fission reactors for military and commercial purposes. The history is considered here in three parts: the period beginning in 1957 and ending with passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982; implementation of that Act over the period 1982 to 2005; and recent plans to promote a nuclear power “renaissance”, including the initiation of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership in 2006. To date, disposal has not been accomplished, and many observers doubt that disposal will occur during the next several decades. The history of the disposal effort features a series of decision-action cycles in which objectives were formulated, decisions were taken, actions were implemented, and outcomes occurred. The decision-action process is examined here with attention to the roles and objectives of major stakeholders, the relation of those objectives to governmental decisions, and the extent to which the actual outcomes have corresponded with the objectives. 1. INTRODUCTION Nuclear fission reactors in the USA have produced large amounts of “high-level” radioactive waste. For half a century, the US federal government has conducted programs to dispose of this material.