The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future was established in 2010 by President Obama, charged with reviewing policies for managing the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and recommending a new plan. On January 26, 2012, the Commission released its report; you can view it here.
The focus of the Commission’s work was “the urgent need to change and improve US strategy for managing the high-level wastes and spent fuel that already exist and will continue to accumulate so long as nuclear reactors operate in this country.”
The creation of this commission and resulting report served to help frame the issue of nuclear waste, the current legislation surrounding the disposal of waste, and the steps needed to move forward. It was created due to the President’s decision to stop the licensing process for Yucca Mountain, thus leaving the US with no other long-term solution for nuclear waste storage and disposal.
This source steps back to look at he issue of waste disposal as seen today, versus 20-30 years earlier. Also, good to keep in mind that this has become a very emotional issue for many people, further heightened by the chain of problems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station that eventually led to the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl.