CEP - US developed the vision to stop putting excess radioactive material in the ground and to store it permanently above ground in monitored retrievable storage facilities. When radioactive waste was first buried, burial was the best storage/disposal choice available to the policy makers. Everywhere that DOE has put radioactive waste into the ground, or in temporary containers, it has migrated into the environment. In some cases the underground plume has entered adjacent streams or drinking water wells. This environmental damage will continue to get worse until procedures change. Long service life concrete containers are now available and are cost effective. 

The understanding of environmental and security issues has changed. Nuclear technologies have advanced since burial and storage procedures began. The potential future demand for radioactive waste - "rad-commodities" is a possibility. We in the radioactive waste management community must choose to safely contain and secure radioactive waste for the long term - now.