ABSTRACT
The United States is facing one of the greatest scientific and technological challenges in its history: developing a national system for managing and storing high-level nuclear waste (HLNW). Spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants, the primary source of HLNW, are stored in water pools next to reactors. Nuclear fuel consists of uranium oxide pellets inside zirconium-clad fuel rods. Revelations during the 1980s of difficulties and contamination problems experienced by reprocessing at Department of Energy (DOE) weapons production facilities underscored the demanding technical problems and countless opportunities for failure in waste management. The Energy Policy Act attempted to legislate away the problem of potential human intrusion by requiring DOE to act as a perpetual custodian over the repository. Since the 1950s, nuclear industry scientists and the federal government have regarded geological disposal as a safe method for long-term storage of HLNW.
