Journal article: This paper examines optimal radioactive-waste burial policy under an uncertainty : the possibility that an accident mightoccur in the future. The framework is an optimal growth model with pollution disutility. We show that nuclear power maybe a long-term solution for world energy demand. Nevertheless, under uncertainty, the social planner will decide to reducethe waste-burial rate, but the changes in consumption levels-and hence in buried-waste levels-are ambiguous. Dependingon the economy's balanced growth rate and the preference parameters, the optimal amount of buried waste may increasedespite the risk of a future accident.