In short: No. We have not had such a repository for many decades, and the fleet is running just fine-better than ever, in fact. But it is a major public perception problem and something that state legislatures incorrectly feel they have to weigh in on, to the detriment of real solutions. While more than a dozen pieces of legislation concern nuclear waste disposal, the most important three are as follows. The AEA is the foundational law on nuclear materials, both civilian and military, and it formed the Atomic Energy Commission as the lead agency. For the civilian side, it provides for the development and the regulation of the uses of nuclear materials and facilities in the United States, stating our policy that "the development, use, and control of atomic energy shall be directed so as to promote world peace, improve the general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free competition in private enterprise." The AEA requires that civilian uses of nuclear materials and facilities be licensed, and it empowers the AEC (this power later being transferred to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 1975) to establish by rule or order, and to enforce, such standards to govern these uses as "the Commission may deem necessary or desirable in order to protect health and safety and minimize danger to life or property." Actions of the AEC, and later the NRC, under the AEA must conform to the AEA's procedural requirements, which provide an opportunity for hearings and federal judicial review in many instances.
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