> The point is to hide the waste. The problem is that this was during the Cold War, and the site needed to operate on an ongoing basis, not just be used once a

> The point is to hide the waste. The problem is that this was during the Cold War, and the site needed to operate on an ongoing basis, not just be used once and then hidden. They had to prepare for the possibility of a Soviet nuclear attack killing everyone responsible for the site, thus had to design a site which would still serve even if its operators disappeared.