Unresolved Problems of Radioactive Waste: Motivation for a New Paradigm

JUN 01, 1997

Having failed to achieve geologic disposal, the US should shift to a strategy of ongoing management and research.

D. Warner North

The management of radio‐active waste has become an increasingly intractable problem. US programs for the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high‐level waste, for disposal of transuranic waste, for clean‐up of former nuclear weapons production facilities and even for disposal of low‐level waste are far behind schedule and mired in public controversy. The US public has acquired a deepseated fear of nuclear technology and its wastes, and mistrusts the institutions for managing these wastes. People’s fear, mistrust and opposition are intensified when the proposed location for the wastes is nearby or is perceived to be a health or environmental hazard (see photo on page 49).

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More about the authors

D. Warner North, Mountain View, California.