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High-Activity Nuclear Waste Management Policy: Becoming a Responsible Ancestor describes the technical, social, and political challenges of developing a deep-mined, geologic repository for high-activity nuclear waste. It emphasizes how the technical estimates of repository performance affect non-technical considerations, such as trust and risk perceptions, and how those considerations in turn affect the technical determinations.
Unlike other democracies with mature nuclear power programs, the United States lacks a permanent management plan for its high-activity radioactive waste. This book analyzes how the US reached this negligent position and examines how eight other countries have addressed five critical waste management activities: establishing management organizations, selecting a repository site, implementing phased repository development, licensing a repository, and addressing technical controversies. It concludes with recommendations for reconstituting an effective waste management program in the United States.
The book will interest nuclear waste and nuclear energy and safety researchers, policy makers, and administrators. It will also benefit graduate students taking specialized courses in nuclear waste management, technology ethics, and public/energy policy.
List of contents
1. Introduction. Part I. The Waste Management Program In The United States. 2. In the Beginning. 3. Setting the Path. 4. Creating a Regulatory and Legal Foundation. 5. The Rise of the Yucca Mountain Repository. 6. The Fall of the Yucca Mountain Repository. Part II. Lessons from Other Countries. 7. Designing and Implementing Organization. 8. Selecting a Repository Site. 9. Phased Repository Development. 10. Repository Licensing. 11. Addressing Technical Controversies. Part III. What Can We Learn?. 12. To Become a Responsible Ancestor.
About the author
Dr. Daniel Metlay is an independent researcher in the field of nuclear waste management based in the United States. He graduated in 1967 from Caltech with a double major in molecular biology and medieval history. He later entered the Ph.D. program for political science at UC Berkeley. While there, he was invited to join a Task Force established by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to develop the first set of goals and objectives for nuclear waste management. Dr. Metlay taught organization theory and public policy at Indiana University and MIT for more than a dozen years. He was later appointed to direct a Secretary of Energy Task Force charged with recommending ways to merit and sustain public trust and confidence in DOE's nuclear waste management program. He then joined the staff of U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, preparing reports to Congress and serving as the micro-agency's international liaison. Throughout his career, Dr. Metlay has published over 100 articles, technical reports, presentations, and government documents. He retired in 2018 after three decades of public service.
