America's Nuclear Wastelands by 
A Field Guide to Radiation by 
Fukushima by 
Managing Spent Nuclear Fuel by
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.
Nuclear Energy by 
Nuclear Power by 
The Road to Yucca Mountain by
In The Road to Yucca Mountain, J. Samuel Walker traces the U.S. government's tangled efforts to solve the technical and political problems associated with radioactive waste. From the Manhattan Project through the designation in 1987 of Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a high-level waste repository, Walker thoroughly investigates the approaches adopted by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). He explains the growing criticism of the AEC's waste programs, such as the AEC's embarrassing failure in its first serious effort to build a high-level waste repository in a Kansas salt mine. Clearly and accessibly, Walker explains the issues surrounding deep geological disposal and surface storage of high-level waste and spent reactor fuel. He analyzes the equally complex and divisive question of fuel "reprocessing." He weaves reliable research with fresh insights about nuclear science, geology, politics, and public administration, making this original and authoritative account an essential guide for understanding the continuing controversy over an illusive and emotional topic.
