How can a Blue Ribbon Panel which was spawned as the result of a political deal, and which has already been prohibited from considering a technically credible site have any credibility?

For months now, the Department of Energy has been working to establish a Blue Ribbon Panel which will evaluate options and provide a new policy course for how we manage and ultimately dispose of our spent nuclear fuel and high level waste. Yet, the recommendations of the yet to be established Blue Ribbon Panel are already known:

The Blue Ribbon Panel will recommend research for proliferation resistant reprocessing technologies so that decades into the future we can recycle spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors. Until that time, fuel can be stored safely on site for 100 years. It will also recommend the disposal of high level waste, defense waste and spent Navy fuel in or adjacent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in New Mexico.

Make no mistake; all of this is to satisfy a political deal. The Blue Ribbon Panel is only a veiled attempt to provide cover for the politicians and will provide no new scientific or technical contributions to the policy debate which has raged for almost 60 years.