Designing an Implementing Organization

Designing an Implementing Organization considers a variety of alternatives to affect a nation&s;s nuclear-waste management program. In the United States, the default option has always been an Executive Branch agency. The waste-management torch has passed over the years from the Atomic Energy Commission to the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA) to the Department of Energy. Periodically, however, that organizational design came under fire because it was too political, had transitory leadership, and lacked control over its budget. Indeed, the NWPA authorized a special commission to analyze alternative designs, including an independent federal agency and a federally chartered corporation like the Post Office and the Tennessee Valley Authority. Although the implementor in France, Germany, and Japan is also the federal government, other organizational forms are more prevalent abroad. In Canada, Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland, the implementor is a non-profit company owned by the countries&s; waste producers. Their programs are also among the most advanced internationally.