Finding ways to safely store and ultimately dispose of nuclear waste remains a matter of considerable debate. This volume describes the steps needed to design a new, single-purpose organization to manage and dispose of commercial and defense high-level radioactive materials and examines three models for such an organization--federal government corporation, federally chartered private corporation, and independent government agency.
Following the President's decision in January 2010 to withdraw the license application for a geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the Secretary of Energy established the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (BRC) to consider alternatives to the nation's current institutional arrangements for management and disposition of used fuel and defense high-level nuclear waste. In February 2012, the BRC issued its final report. Among its recommendations was a call for a new, single purpose organization to be established to replace the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM) in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) that had been established under the authority of the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act. The BRC suggested that a congressionally chartered federal corporation offers the most promising model, but the commission left open the possibility of alternative concepts to achieve the desired ends. In response to this recommendation, DOE asked the RAND Corporation to examine alternative organizational models for such a new management and disposition organization (MDO). Our study supports the work of DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy and the Management and Disposition Working Group(MDWG) formed to consider implementation options and activities.
As the United States creates the Space Force as a service within the Department of the Air Force, RAND assessed which units to bring into the Space Force, analyzed career field sustainability, and drew lessons from other defense organizations. The report focuses on implications for effectiveness, efficiency, independence, and sense of identity for the new service.
During the next several years, decisions are expected to be made in several countries on the further development and implementation of the geological disposition option. The Board on Radioactive Waste Management (BRWM) of the U.S. National Academies believes that informed and reasoned discussion of relevant scientific, engineering and social issues can-and should-play a constructive role in the decision process by providing information to decision makers on relevant technical and policy issues. A BRWM-initiated project including a workshop at Irvine, California on November 4-5, 1999, and subsequent National Academies' report to be published in spring, 2000, are intended to provide such information to national policy makers both in the U.S. and abroad. To inform national policies, it is essential that experts from the physical, geological, and engineering sciences, and experts from the policy and social science communities work together. Some national programs have involved social science and policy experts from the beginning, while other programs have only recently recognized the importance of this collaboration. An important goal of the November workshop is to facilitate dialogue between these communities, as well as to encourage the sharing of experiences from many national programs. The workshop steering committee has prepared this discussion for participants at the workshop. It should elicit critical comments and help identify topics requiring in-depth discussion at the workshop. It is not intended as a statement of findings, conclusions, or recommendations. It is rather intended as a vehicle for stimulating dialogue among the workshop participants. Out of that dialogue will emerge the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the National Academies' report.
Over the past decade significant progress has been achieved in the development of waste characterization and control procedures and equipment as a direct response to ever-increasing requirements for quality and reliability of information on waste characteristics. Failure in control procedures at any step can have important, adverse consequences and may result in producing waste packages which are not compliant with the waste acceptance criteria for disposal, thereby adversely impacting the repository. The information and guidance included in this publication corresponds to recent achievements and reflects the optimum approaches, thereby reducing the potential for error and enhancing the quality of the end product. -- Publisher's description.
This study of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue demonstrates how the magazine encourages individual and institutional practices that create and maintain inequality. Laurel Davis illustrates how the interactions of media production, media texts, media consumption, and social context influence meaning. Individuals' interpretations of and reactions to the magazine are influenced by their views about gender and sexuality, views that have been shaped by their social experiences. Based on extensive interviews with Sports Illustrated producers and consumers, as well as analysis of every swimsuit issue from the first in 1964 to those of the 1990s, the book argues that Sports Illustrated uses the swimsuit issue to secure a large male audience by creating a climate of hegemonic masculinity. This practice produces considerable profit but on the way to the bank tramples women, gays, lesbians, people of color, and residents of the postcolonialized world.
This collection contains 372 papers on high level radioactive waste management presented at the Fifth Annual International Conference on High Level Radioactive Waste Management, held in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 22-26, 1994.
Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel. The biggest challenges in achieving safe and secure storage and permanent waste disposal are societal, although technical challenges remain. Disposition of radioactive wastes in a deep geological repository is a sound approach as long as it progresses through a stepwise decision-making process that takes advantage of technical advances, public participation, and international cooperation. Written for concerned citizens as well as policymakers, this book was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and waste management organizations in eight other countries.
