The Need for Safe,
Clean, Temporary Spent Fuel Storage
Our nation's air quality is
at risk.
Without a place to temporarily
store spent fuel rods until a federal repository is ready, some
of our nation's nuclear power plants
- May have to shut down before
their operating license expires.
- May have to switch from clean
nuclear fuel to coal or oil, which pollute the air.
- Cannot plan to invest in license
renewal or power plant improvements.
- Are paying millions of dollars
into the government's nuclear waste fund but getting nothing
in return.
 A typical nuclear
power plant generates about 20 metric tons of spent fuel rods
each year. The spent rods are placed in water-filled cooling
pools at the plant where they were used. Many of the pools are
running out of space.
Some plants have begun to build
above-ground dry storage facilities to temporarily store their
spent fuel at their plants. Other plants do not have space for
above-ground dry storage. Still others are restricted by state
regulations from creating enough above-ground dry storage to
meet their needs.
Some power plants have shut down
their reactors and would like to "decommission" or
use their property for other uses. They cannot decommission until
the spent fuel is moved away.
Each nuclear power company
must decide:
- Can we build more storage at
our plant?
- How will our customers, our
community, our employees and shareholders be affected if we must
shut down our nuclear reactor?
- Can we risk investing more money
to upgrade and re-license our reactor before we know exactly
when the federal government will create a permanent repository,
as required by federal law?
- What is the safest, most cost
effective interim solution for our circumstances?
- A centralized, temporary storage
facility - needed only until the federal government is ready
to take the spent fuel - would make these decisions a whole lot
easier.
[ About The Project ]
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[ History of Nuclear Waste Policy ]
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