Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel. The biggest challenges in achieving safe and secure storage and permanent waste disposal are societal, although technical challenges remain. Disposition of radioactive wastes in a deep geological repository is a sound approach as long as it progresses through a stepwise decision-making process that takes advantage of technical advances, public participation, and international cooperation. Written for concerned citizens as well as policymakers, this book was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and waste management organizations in eight other countries.

This handbook is a practical aid to legislative drafting that brings together, for the first time, model texts of provisions covering all aspects of nuclear law in a consolidated form. Organized along the same lines as the Handbook on Nuclear Law, published by the IAEA in 2003, and containing updated material on new legal developments, this publication represents an important companion resource for the development of new or revised nuclear legislation, as well as for instruction in the fundamentals of nuclear law. It will be particularly useful for those Member States embarking on new or expanding existing nuclear programmes.

Passed in 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) was an effort to establish an explicit statutory basis for the Dept. of Energy (DoE) to dispose of the nation's most highly radioactive nuclear waste. The NWPA requires DoE to remove spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and transport it to a permanent geologic repository. In 1987, Congress designated Yucca Mountain, NV (YM), as the repository. Contents of this report: Intro.; Establishing a Permanent Geologic Repository for High-Level Nuclear Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel; YM and the Obama Admin.; Blue Ribbon Comm. on America's Nuclear Future; Withdrawal of the YM Construction License; NRC Halts YM License Review; The Future of YM. A print on demand report.