Topic Page on Managing Spent Nuclear Fuel
Statement of the Issue
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 legislates a system of managing spent nuclear fuel that results in its permanent disposal in appropriate geological repositories. Although a repository site has been identified, studied, and mostly developed as provided for by this law, the actual completion and use of the repository is still decades off with the potential for public and legal actions preventing it from ever being operational. In the meantime, nuclear reactor technology, energy use and demand, energy production effects on the environment, public-policy mechanisms, and medical knowledge have all evolved and can be seen to continue to evolve such that the assumptions and basis for the Nuclear Waste Policy Act may no longer be appropriate.
Health Physics Society Documents
Position Statement
Managing Spent Nuclear Fuel - A Position Statement of the Health Physics Society (7/2006)
Correspondence
Letter from President Guilmette to Senator Domenici Regarding Yucca Environmental Performance Standards (7/20/2004)
Selected Congressional and Federal Agency Documents
Department of Energy
Supplemental Yucca Mountain Environmental Impact Statement
Federal Register Notice: Vol. 71, No. 198/Friday, 13 October 2006/Notices - Supplement to the Final Environmental Impact Statement for a Geologic Repository for the Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste at Yucca Mountain, Nye County, NV
Environmental Protection Agency
Final rule on the Public Health and Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, Nevada.
United States Congress
Extract from House of Representatives Report 109-275 - Making Appropriations for Energy and Water Development for the Fiscal Year Ending 30 September 2006 - Integrated Spent Fuel Recycling
United States Senate
Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works hearing on Examination of the Licensing Process for the Yucca Mountain Repository, 31 October 2007
HPS President Kevin Nelson provides comments on written testimony by Dr. Arjun Makhijani regarding risk calculations of the EPA environmental performance standard for Yucca Mountain.
Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works hearing on Oversight of the Status of the Yucca Mountain Project, 1 March 2006
Oral Testimony by Dr. Dade W. Moeller, HPS President Emeritus
Written Testimony by Dr. Dade W. Moeller, HPS President Emeritus
Dr. Dade W. Moeller's responses to follow-up questions from Senators Inhofe, Jeffords, and Boxer