Book excerpt: Safe and effective management of nuclear waste provides a broad range of challenges for materials science. Waste processing, waste form and engineered barrier properties, interactions between engineered and geological systems, radiation effects, chemistry and transport of waste species, and long-term predictions of repository performance are just some of the scientific problems facing modern society. This book, the 22nd in a very successful series from MRS, offers an international and inter-disciplinary perspective on the issues, and features developments in both fundamental and applied areas. Topics include: development and characterization of ceramic waste forms; ceramic waste form corrosion; glass waste form processing; glass formulation, properties and structure; glass waste form corrosion; spent nuclear fuel; performance assessment; repository backfill; flow and transport; natural analogues; container corrosion; metal waste form corrosion; radionuclide speciation and solubility; radionuclide sorption; microbial effects; radiation effects; cement waste forms and waste treatment.