In this Book
- Fuel Cycle to Nowhere: U.S. Law and Policy on Nuclear Waste
- Book
- 2011
- Published by: Vanderbilt University Press
The first comprehensive history and overview of U.S. nuclear waste law and regulation, Fuel Cycle to Nowhere traces sixty years of nuclear weapons programs, the growth of nuclear power, and their waste legacies, the rise of environmentalism, and the responses of federal agencies. Richard and Jane Stewart expertly analyze the changing policies for storing low-level waste, transuranic waste, spent nuclear fuel, and high-level waste and for regulating their transport by rail and by truck. They also chronicle "a tale of two repositories"--one, the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, known as WIPP, the world's only operating deep geologic nuclear waste disposal facility, which emerged from a contentious but ultimately successful struggle between federal and state interests; the other, Yucca Mountain, mandated top down by Congress and a failure.
Fuel Cycle to Nowhere provides the critical information and analysis on the waste disposal issues and solutions that the commission, Congress, the administration, journalists, policymakers, and the public so urgently need.
This book is a project of the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP), a Vanderbilt University-led, multi-university consortium supported as a cooperative agreement by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental This book is a project of the Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP), a Vanderbilt University-led, multi-university consortium supported as a cooperative agreement by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Environmental Management to support safe, effective, publicly credible, risk informed management of existing and future nuclear waste from government and civilian sources through independent strategic analysis, review, applied research and education.
Table of Contents
- Acronyms and Abbreviations
- pp. xi-xiv
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xv-xviii
- Introduction
- The Coming Third Era
- pp. 11-13
- 1. The Evolution of U.S. Nuclear Waste Law and Policy
- 2. Radioactive Waste Classification and Regulation
- HLW Reclassification Initiatives
- pp. 102-110
- Mixed Waste
- pp. 111-112
- Conclusion
- p. 122
- 3. Nuclear Waste Transport
- Experience with Nuclear Waste Transport
- pp. 133-134
- Transportation of TRU for Disposal at WIPP
- pp. 135-139
- Conclusion
- pp. 143-144
- 4. Low-Level Waste Disposal
- Early Developments
- p. 146
- The Current LLW Disposal Situation
- pp. 154-156
- Options for Addressing LLW Disposal Problems
- pp. 157-160
- Conclusion
- pp. 160-161
- 5. WIPP: The Rocky Road to Success
- The Origins of WIPP
- p. 162
- Restriction of WIPP to Defense TRU
- pp. 163-167
- Conclusion
- pp. 184-185
- 6. Yucca Mountain: Blueprint for Failure
- Crisis in the NWPA Siting Scheme
- pp. 201-206
- The Battle for Public Opinion
- pp. 214-215
- Conclusion
- p. 230
- 7. Options for Orphan Wastes
- Continued SNF Storage at Reactors
- pp. 232-234
- Consolidated SNF Storage
- pp. 235-238
- Evaluating Interim Storage Options
- pp. 239-241
- SNF Reprocessing
- pp. 242-252
- Conclusion
- p. 253
- 8. Nuclear Waste in the United States: Lessons Learned and Future Choices
- Current Nuclear Waste Dilemmas and Options
- pp. 258-271
- Bibliography
- pp. 397-412