How Is the Waste From a Nuclear Power Plant Disposed?

Spent fuel from nuclear reactors includes many different elements. Some are not radioactive and pose no threat, while others are highly radioactive and will remain so for centuries or millennia to come. Proper disposal of these wastes is vital to ensure public health and safety.

Location

• According to figures cited in a 2009 Scientific American article, nuclear power plants in the United States produce some 2,000 metric tons of spent fuel a year. At present, this waste is typically stored on site at the power plants. According to "Essential Environment," nuclear power plant waste is currently stored at some 125 sites in 39 states across the country.

Function

• Rods of spent nuclear fuel are often stored in 40-foot deep pools; the water in the pool is rich in dissolved boron, which helps absorb the radiation emitted by the fuel. Sometimes spent nuclear fuel is stored in dry casks instead. The rods are immersed in an inert gas like helium and inserted into a steel container that is then entombed in a concrete cask, ready for transportation.

Potential

• Storing spent nuclear fuel is expensive. According to Scientific American, dry casks cost roughly $1 million apiece. Some nuclear power plants are running short on space. A few critics have suggested that spent nuclear fuel be reprocessed or recycled to recover isotopes that can be used as fuel and separate the elements that are not radioactive from the rest. The federal government has tried for some years to decide on an appropriate national repository for nuclear waste but has yet to find an acceptable location.