The Politics of Highly Radioactive Waste Disposal Essay -- Radioactive

The Politics of Highly Radioactive turn back presidential term atomic fumble disposal is a political problem, not a technical problem.1 Dr. Edward Teller Highly radioactive waste disposal has constrain angiotensin converting enzyme of the most controversial aspects of atomic technology. As the amount of pass nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level radioactive waste from defense-related processing plants has continued to mount, the figure has become increasingly contentious and politicized.2 The politicization of this issue is especially evident in the grade selection process of a long-lasting national sedimentation for the disposal of highly radioactive waste. Paradoxically, as the need for action has become more acute, the conflict generated by the politicization of the turn up selection process has delayed progress on the establishment of a permanent nuclear waste storage facility. As early as 1957, the National Academy of Sciences recommended the disposal of radioactive waste in occult underground rock as the best means of protecting globe health and safety.3 However, it was not until 25 years later that the federal Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 began the process of establishing a deep, underground permanent national storage repository for highly radioactive waste. The 1982 Act mandated that the subdivision of Energy (DOE) would study multiple poses in the West and select one to be ready to serve as the first national repository for highly radioactive waste by January 31, 1998.4 A second site in the East, where the majority of highly radioactive material is generated, would be designated later. The site selection process was slow and arduous due to opposition generated by states identified as potential hosts for a national radioactive... ...S termination Brief, congressional Research Service, December 3, 1996, http//www.cnie.org/nle/eng-18.html, 5. 29 Mark Holt and Zachary Davis, Nuclear Energy Policy, CRS Issue Br ief, congressional Research Service, updated December 5, 1996, http//www.cnie.org/nle/eng-5.html, 7. 30 Will Nixon, High Energy, E/The Environmental Magazine, http//www.adams.ind.net/Environment.html, May/June 1995, 4. 31 Associated Press, Court U.S. must take nuclear waste by 1998, The Courier, July 24, 1996, A1. 32 See U.S. Congress (S. 1271), Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996, congressional Record,104th Congress, 2d Session. Also see U.S. Congress (S. 1936), Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1996, Congressional Record, 104th Congress, 2d Session. 33 See U.S. Congress (S. 104), Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1997, Congressional Record, 105th Congress, 1st Session.