Nuclear waste management and the impact of Carter Administration policies

The impact of Carter Administration's policies on the nuclear waste management program are evaluated in this article. The waste management program faces numerous inconsistencies resulting from: a lack of a clearly defined schedule and division of responsibility; the requirement to meet conflicting procedural requirements; and the lack of clear statements from the President and Congress supporting the major programs. Some of the ramifications of these points are discussed with reference to the schedule for the 3 key program elements: National Waste Terminal Storage (NWTS) Facility scheduled for commercial operation in 1985 to handle commercial high-level wastes; the Spent Unreprocessed Fuel (SURF) Facility scheduled for operation in 1985 to handle spent fuel from commercial power plants; the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) scheduled for operation in 1983 or 1984 for the disposal of TRU defense wastes. Possible avenues for improvement are suggested