Managing spent nuclear fuel : strategy alternatives and policy implications / Tom LaTourrette [and others].

Contributor(s):

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Rand Corporation monograph seriesPublication details: Santa Monica, CA : RAND, 2010.Description: 1 online resource (xxiii, 71 pages) : illustrationsContent type:

text

Media type:

computer

Carrier type:

online resource

ISBN:

0833051156
9780833051158

Report number: MG-970-RCSubject(s):

Genre/Form:

Additional physical formats: Print version:: Managing spent nuclear fuel.DDC classification:

363.72/895610973 22

LOC classification:

TD898.118 .M326 2010eb

Online resources:

Digital version

Contents:

Where we are now, how we got here, and the decisions we face -- Technical approaches to spent-nuclear fuel management -- Review of institutional, statutory, and regulatory arrangements -- Policy implications of alternative strategies.

Summary: Increasing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has renewed interest in nuclear power generation. At the same time, the longstanding logjam over how to manage spent nuclear fuel continues to hamper the expansion of nuclear power. If nuclear power is to be a sustainable option for the United States, methods for managing spent fuel that meet stringent safety and environmental standards must be implemented. This monograph evaluates the main technical and institutional approaches to spent nuclear fuel management and identifies implications for the development of spent fuel management policy. The authors find that on-site storage, centralized interim storage, and permanent geological disposal are generally safe, secure, and low- to moderate-cost approaches with no insurmountable technical obstacles. Advanced fuel cycles enabling spent-fuel recycling could reduce waste repository capacity needs but are difficult to evaluate because they still in early research stages. Public acceptance challenges stand as a major impediment to any technical approach. The analysis shows that the technical approaches can be combined in different ways to form different spent fuel management strategies that can be distinguished primarily in terms of societal preferences in three areas: the disposition of spent fuel, the growth of nuclear power, and intergenerational trade-offs.

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Holdings ( 1 )
Title notes ( 5 )

Holdings
Item type	Current library	URL	Status	Notes
E-books	Hugenote College Main Campus	Digital version	Not for loan	Only accessible on campus.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 63-71).

Increasing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions has renewed interest in nuclear power generation. At the same time, the longstanding logjam over how to manage spent nuclear fuel continues to hamper the expansion of nuclear power. If nuclear power is to be a sustainable option for the United States, methods for managing spent fuel that meet stringent safety and environmental standards must be implemented. This monograph evaluates the main technical and institutional approaches to spent nuclear fuel management and identifies implications for the development of spent fuel management policy. The authors find that on-site storage, centralized interim storage, and permanent geological disposal are generally safe, secure, and low- to moderate-cost approaches with no insurmountable technical obstacles. Advanced fuel cycles enabling spent-fuel recycling could reduce waste repository capacity needs but are difficult to evaluate because they still in early research stages. Public acceptance challenges stand as a major impediment to any technical approach. The analysis shows that the technical approaches can be combined in different ways to form different spent fuel management strategies that can be distinguished primarily in terms of societal preferences in three areas: the disposition of spent fuel, the growth of nuclear power, and intergenerational trade-offs.

Print version record.

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