The DOE is responsible for and performs most of the SNF and RAW man­agement activities for government-owned and — generated waste and materi­als, mostly located on government-owned sites. These activities include managing SNF remaining from decades of defense reactor operations, which ceased in the early 1990s. Since then, the DOE has safely stored the remaining defense SNF and SNF generated in a number of research and test reactors. The DOE also provides safe storage for the core of the decom­missioned Fort St. Vrain gas-cooled reactor and the core of the Three Mile Island Unit 2 reactor damaged in a 1979 accident.

The DOE has a system for managing government SNF and radioactive waste. This includes numerous storage and processing facilities (treatment and conditioning), such as operating disposal facilities for LLW and TRU waste. Other waste management treatment and disposal systems support cleanup and closure of decommissioned facilities no longer serving a DOE mission.

The United States also continues activities to remove and/or secure high — risk nuclear and radiological materials both domestically and internation­ally. Part of this initiative is continuing the program of accepting US-origin foreign research reactor SNF and returning it to the United States for safekeeping and recovery of disused sealed sources.