Four US Senators have introduced a new legislation which intends to create a long-term plan for managing the inventory of spent nuclear fuel in the country.
Senators Dianne Feinstein from California, Lamar Alexander from Tennessee, Ron Wyden from Oregon and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska have introduced the bill.
The American Nuclear Society (ANS) said it commends the senators for their revision of legislation and for their interest to engage the scientific and technical community in its development.
The proposed bill aims to create a new, independent nuclear waste administration with a five-member board to oversee it.
ANS said it believes that an independent entity is necessary to ensure effective management of the nuclear fuel cycle.
"We strongly encourage the committee to continue their efforts to establish and ultimately charter an organization that will address our nation’s nuclear waste,"ANS added.
The legislation will also create a consent-based framework to develop consolidated interim storage facilities and a long-term geologic repository.
ANS noted that it also believes that the siting of interim storage facilities must be tightly aligned with the development of a repository.
According to ANS, whether or not the US decides to develop recycling technology, some amount of material will be required to be disposed in a geologic repository.