United States Nuclear Waste

End Points for spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in Russian and the United States provides an analysis of the management of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in Russia and the United States, describing inventories, comparing approaches, and assessing the end-point options for storage and disposal of materials and wastes. The authoring committee finds that despite differences in philosophy about nuclear fuel cycles, Russia and the United States need similar kinds of facilities and face similar challenges, although in Russia many of the problems are worse and funding is less available. This book contains recommendations for immediate and near-term actions, for example, protecting and stabilizing materials that are security and safety hazards, actions for the longer term, such as developing more interim storage capacity and studying effects of deep injection, and areas for collaboration.

Witnesses include: Lake H. Barrett, Acting Dir., Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, U.S. Dept. of Energy; Reps. Shelley Berkley and Jim Gibbons; Senators Jeff Bingaman, Richard Bryan, Jim Bunning, Conrad Burns, Larry E. Craig, Pete V. Domenici, Peter G. Fitzgerald, Bob Graham, Rod Grams, Mary Landrieu, Frank Murkowski, and Harry Reid; Shirley Ann Jackson, Chmn., U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Michael Mariotte, Exec. Dir., Nuclear Information and Resource Service; Erle Nye, Chmn. and Chief Executive, Texas Utilities Company; and John G. Strand, Michigan Public Service Commission.