s of high-level nuclear wastes possess both high-activity and long half-lives (Wheelwright 43).
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepares health hazard standards that govern the storage of nuclear wastes. Current policy regarding high-level waste limits maximum doses of radiation. Further the EPA insists that it be shown that these limits can be reasonably met for 10,000 years. Critics of federal environmental policy claim that such an expectation is unrealistic. As one geophysicist points out, "In science you can almost never prove something won't happen. The best you can do is give the probabilities" (Wheelwright 48).
The U.S. government is in the midst of hammering out its long-term policy for the permanent disposal of high-level nuclear wastes. Currently these wastes are stored in a variety of facilities throughout the country. For instance, spent nuclear reactor fuel is stored on site at the nation's 73 commercial nuclear power plants. A total of 40 states are storing some form of high-level radioactive waste on an interim basis (U.S. Cong
...