Final Blue Ribbon Commission Report Urges Cooperative Efforts in Siting Waste Facilities

摘要

A new consent-based approach to siting future nuclear waste management facilities and a new organization to run a waste management program are two key recommendations in a final report released Jan. 26 by the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future. The commission recommended that an "independent, government-chartered corporation", be established to focus solely on a radioactive waste management program as an alternative to the existing program run by the Energy Department. Among its eight key recommendations, the report calls for the new organization to have access to the funds utility ratepayers are providing for nuclear waste management. It also recommended that prompt efforts be made to develop one or more consolidated storage facilities.