While the Skull Valley Band of the Goshute Indian Tribe, Private Fuel Storage, LLC and the State of Utah shape up as the main protagonists in the proposal to store high-level radioactive waste in Utah's Skull Valley, there are a number of other key players who will shape the process and the project.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the federal agency charged with granting a license for any use, transportation or storage of nuclear fuel. As such, they will decide if the Skull Valley proposal meets appropriate safety standards and can proceed. Their Web site features a variety of materials on radiation, nuclear power, waste management and safety standards; as well as complete preliminary reports on the proposed Skull Valley project.

The U.S. Department of Energy is charged with administering the complex balance of private and public interests in the nation's energy industry. It also is charged with responsibility for the permanent handling of all of the nation's high-level radioactive waste materials, including the study and certification of Yucca Mountain, the only option presently being studied as a site capable of storing nuclear waste for 10,000 years. Their Yucca Mountain site details the scientific study that has taken place in Nevada over the past ten years. In addition, DOE Yucca Mountain spokesman Allen Benson discusses the controversies surrounding the site in his interview transcript.

The State of Nevada is adamantly opposed to the process that could lead to Yucca Mountain serving as the nation's permanent nuclear waste storage center. The state has developed a comprehensive Web site explaining Nevada's opposition, and linking to other sites that largely are opposed to transporting high-level nuclear waste to the Silver State. Our interview transcript with Robert Loux of the Nevada Nuclear Waste Office provides further insight to Nevada's opposition.