to start the process by collecting these materials in centralized, secure locations so that the risk they might pose to society can be minimized while ultimate solutions are developed, debated, and then implemented.

Our challenge for the next two days is to discuss the issues that must be resolved before we can be assured that the nuclear material now in temporary storage in many locations throughout the world has been placed in safe and secure storage. This is especially important for the smaller temporary sites where the cost per fuel unit of waste to ensure safety is very high because of the relatively small amounts of material involved. A centralized storage facility is certainly an attractive option for such material and that really is the focus of our workshop. We have invited speakers to cover the technical, policy, and legal issues of such a centralized facility. This is to be a workshop to illuminate the issues. No attempt will be made to resolve the issues, nor will an attempt be made to obtain a consensus. Our objective is to define what needs to be done as the next step in moving toward a solution—and identifying what might be some of the options for doing so. We will be successful if in the end we have provided elements and options for a solution that can be used by the decision makers in resolving the problem.