Institutional challenge of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act

At this time last year, what seemed to be insurmountable institutional obstacles to resolving the national high-level nuclear waste problem were faced. The obstacles remain. But now, with the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA), we have both a mandate and the tools to surmount those obstacles. The Act declares a clear national policy favoring nuclear waste disposal in geologic repositories, sets a feasible schedule for repository development, defines the roles of the various branches and levels of government, establishes a dedicated source of program funding, and most important, prescribes an approach to productive consultation and cooperation between the Federal government and States and Indian tribes. While the Act provides a basis for solving the pre-existing institutional problems, it also creates some new obstacles, the most formidable being a complicated mechanism for State or Indian tribe disapproval of a recommended repository site and a joint Congressional resolution procedure for overriding such disapproval. To avoid the ultimate obstacle of disapproval by a state or Indian tribe, DOE must deal successfully with the factors creating opposition to geologic disposal of nuclear waste