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

HPS Comments submitted 22 November 2006

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