This Department of Energy (DOE) webpage describes the Office of Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Disposition, a program within DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy. The office is responsible for developing a national strategy for managing spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste, including their storage, transportation, and ultimately disposal.
The page outlines the office’s structure, which includes three main program areas: disposal research and development, storage and transportation, and consent-based siting. Together, these programs are working toward an “integrated waste management system” for the country’s nuclear waste.
This webpage is informational, not a law or regulation. It does not authorize any specific project or site. Instead, it explains how DOE is carrying out responsibilities assigned by federal law, primarily under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
- The office conducts research and planning to support future federal decisions about nuclear waste disposal.
- It develops systems for transporting and storing waste, which may later be used in licensing and siting decisions.
- It helps implement federal policy initiatives, such as consent-based siting, that guide how communities may be considered for interim storage or disposal facilities.
However, the office itself does not have independent authority to approve facilities; those decisions require additional regulatory action (such as NRC licensing) and, in some cases, congressional approval.
