The Civilian Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Transportation Program

Since the 1950's the United States has been studying methods to dispose of its nuclear waste. In 1982 the NWPA created the Nuclear Waste Fund so that owners and generators of waste will pay for the costs to manage for the disposal of spent fuel and high-level waste. As the agency responsible for managing the program, the Act authorized and required the DOE: To site, construct and operate a high-level radioactive waste geologic repository; To submit a proposal to Congress to construct a facility for the monitored, retrievable storage (MRS) of waste (after conducting a study for the need for, and the feasibility of, such a facility); To provide for the participation of State and Indian Tribes; and To develop a waste-transportation system. The NWP A charges the DOE to develop the transportation system to take title at the reactor or generating site, to use the private sector to \"the fuUest extent possible\", and to have aU costs be covered by the waste fund. To plan, design and develop a transportation system the DOE is faced with two major tasks: providing for the technical and physical development of the transportation system and to resolve any institutional issues that could be expected, given the vast network of interested parties.