United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1993-12-01 monographic deposited born digital GA 1.13:RCED-94-16S https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-16S P0b002ee18039c348 f:rc94016s DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-16S machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-16S RCED-94-16S Nuclear waste disposal Nuclear waste storage Nuclear waste management Radioactive wastes Research and development Energy research Research and development costs Cost control Cost analysis Nuclear facilities DOE Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor/Integral Fast Reactor Program DOE Accelerator Transmutation of Waste Program DOE Phoenix Accelerator Program DOE Particle-Bed Reactor Program DOE Clean Use of Reactor Energy Program DOE Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor Actinide Recycle Program Letter Report RCED U.S. efforts to develop a technology, known as waste transmutation, that might be able to reduce the volume and the radioactivity of nuclear waste have lagged because the Energy Department (DOE) believes that the technology is too costly and unnecessary. Such radioactive waste, the legacy of commercial nuclear power and nuclear weapons production, will have to be buried in a deep geological repository. In essence, any practical application of transmutation is at least decades away, and several roadblocks would likely slow or prevent application should it be pursued. These include current funding constraints; the high cost and the long time needed to develop and implement transmutation; and the technical, institutional, and public challenges that would need to be overcome. Moreover, DOE's waste managers, industry representatives, and others now believe that transmutation is neither necessary nor cost-beneficial. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-16S/html/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-16S.htm GAO/RCED-94-16S https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-RCED-94-16S Letter Report GAO/RCED-94-16S; Nuclear Science: Developing Technology to Reduce Radioactive Waste May Take Decades and Be Costly; Nuclear waste disposal Nuclear waste storage Nuclear waste management Radioactive wastes Research and development Energy research Research and development costs Cost control Cost analysis Nuclear facilities DOE Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor/Integral Fast Reactor Program DOE Accelerator Transmutation of Waste Program DOE Phoenix Accelerator Program DOE Particle-Bed Reactor Program DOE Clean Use of Reactor Energy Program DOE Advanced Liquid Metal Reactor Actinide Recycle Program