In his article, Solving the U.S. Nuclear Waste Dilemma, Richard B. Stewart analyzes the history of the failure of the U.S. to manage the recycling and disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW) from the nuclear fuel cycle associated with the production of electricity. He then develops some insightful suggestions to rectify the problem, recognizing that our current government policy is not moving the country toward a viable solution for disposal of SNF and HLW.

Stewart is correct in concluding that the current arrangement of onsite storage of civilian nuclear waste provides a relatively safe near-term option. However, there are very real security considerations attendant to indefinite storage of waste at locations never selected or constructed to store waste, with the potential for terrorists to target well-known quantities of low-level radioactive waste (LLRW) and HLW at reactor sites. As politicians become complacent with the lack of serious security incidents resulting from their failure to take decisive action to find disposal solutions, it becomes easier for them to ignore this volatile issue.