The United States is evaluating the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada to assess its capability to support a repository. Although the engineered technologies that will be used are important, the critical issues at that site involve the projected behavior of the geologic setting over thousands of years after the waste is emplaced. The Department of Energy will complete a description of the potential repository and the technologies that will be used in 1998. The independent Nuclear Regulatory Commission will have to license the project before it can be constructed. If the project proves to be capable of meeting the safety standards, waste could begin to be emplaced in the year 2010.
Plutonium is a perfect weapon for terrorists.
The more difficult it is to retrieve, the better. Both spent fuel and liquid high level waste can be harmful if they are not handled properly. The question may be reworded to consider which form is easier to manage safely. Reprocessing poses additional challenges in the end products that are generally more difficult to manage. First, reprocessing creates a liquid acidic waste form that must be stored and pumped with extraordinary precautions before it is solidified in a glass form impregnated with boron to moderate the radioactivity.