cluded this board to perform oversight obligations
because it felt that a board of experts would be well
suited to carry out this task.
The Search for a Suitable Location The NWPA
required that the Department of Energy (DOE) re-
search the use of deep geological disposal. DOE sci-
entists considered a number of different environ-
ments, including salt, volcanic rock, and crystalline
rock, that might be appropriate for storing the nu-
clear waste. In addition to the task of searching for
adequate geological conditions, the DOE was re-
quired to consult with the states and Indian tribes
that would be impacted by the construction of a dis-
posal location. These consultations were to be over-
seen by the newly created position of the nuclear
waste negotiator.
By the end of 1983, the DOE had identified nine
sites that contained adequate geological founda-
tions for a storage location. In 1986, the department
determined that five of these sites were suitable for
detailed study and recommended three of these to
President Ronald Reagan for his consideration. In
1987, Congress amended the NWPA and deter-
mined, after recommendations from the DOE, to fo-
cus on Yucca Mountain, located in south-central Ne-
vada, as the nuclear waste repository.
Impact The NWPA was the government’s first seri-
ous attempt to address the growing nuclear waste
deposits across the country and the need for safe dis-
posal. Although its impact was anything but imme-
diate, it set in motion a series of events that many
believed would lead to the safest and most secure
hazardous waste storage facility that scientists could
envision.
Subsequent Events After years of study, the DOE
concluded that the volcanic tuff located under Yucca
Mountain ought to be sufficient to contain the na-
tion’s high-level nuclear waste. In 2002, President
George W. Bush signed into law legislative approval
for the DOE to develop a repository under Yucca
Mountain. The DOE anticipated obtaining a license
from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission by
the summer of 2008 to begin storage.
Further Reading
Gerrard, Michael B.Whose Backyard, Whose Risk: Fear
and Fairness in Toxic and Nuclear Waste Siting. Cam-
bridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1994. Outlines the com-
plex legalities that encompass the disposal of toxic
and nuclear waste in the United States through a
balanced political, economic, psychological, and
scientific approach.
Herzik, Eric B., and Alvin H. Mushkatel, eds.Prob-
lems and Prospects for Nuclear Waste Disposal Policy.
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993. Pro-
vides a good analysis of the NWPA and its likeli-
hood of success as well as alternative methods for
storing nuclear waste.
Sundqvist, Göran.The Bedrock of Opinion: Science,
Technology, and Society in the Siting of High-Level Nu-
clear Waste. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Aca-
demic, 2002. Examines how Sweden, a country
long considered a forerunner in high-level nu-
clear waste disposal and management, finally de-
cided to dispose of its nuclear waste.
U.S. Department of Energy.Science, Society, and Amer-
ica’s Nuclear Waste. Washington, D.C.: Author,- Designed by the DOE to educate students
in grades 8-12 about the NWPA.
James W. Stoutenborough
See also Congress, U.S.; Environmental movement;
Reagan, Ronald.Nuclear winter scenario
Definition The hypothesis that a nuclear war
would cause a severe decrease in global
temperature and sunlight
Based on computer simulations, this hypothesis was de-
bated by scientists and political figures throughout the de-
cade. Most scientists agreed that nuclear war would have a
negative climatic impact that went beyond the immediate
damage caused by nuclear weapons.
Beginning in 1983, when the nuclear winter sce-
nario was first posited by climatologists and astrono-
mers Richard Turco, Owen B. Toon, Thomas P.
Ackerman, James B. Pollack, and Carl Sagan (re-
ferred to collectively as TTAPS), the scientific com-
munity debated the climatic impact of nuclear war.
TTAPS offered several scenarios based on the inten-
sity of a nuclear conflict ranging from a hardly no-
ticeable climatic impact to one that lowered global
temperature by 25 degrees Celsius, precipitating an
ice age of nearly unimaginable magnitude. Even the
scenario of a medium-scale nuclear war provided for
a decrease in global temperature of 10 degrees Cel-716 Nuclear winter scenario The Eighties in America