The US should create a new organisation whose sole mission is nuclear waste management as it looks for ways to overcome the current standstill regarding disposal for spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors, a report by Columbia University says.

The report says that since the 1970s, reports have noted that a single-purpose organisation would have a number of advantages over a programme residing within the Department of Energy, which has multiple missions and competing priorities.

Congress could pass legislation to create a separate nuclear waste management organisation that has full access to needed funding and employs a consent-based approach to achieve greater support from state and local communities for the siting of facilities.