The U.S. national commitment to achieve permanent isolation is the basis for the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982 and its 1987 amendment, the Energy Policy Act of 1992, and regulations such as Public Health and Environmental Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, Nevada (Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations Part 197) and Disposal of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in a Proposed Geolo