With the future of nuclear power in the US linked to the resolution of what to do with thousands of tons of radioactive waste at commercial nuclear reactors, a new American Physical Society report concludes that moving the spent fuel to interim storage sites offers no significant economic, safety, or security benefits if the planned permanent waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, isn't substantially delayed.
With waste piling up at the 103 operating US nuclear reactors and the future of Yucca Mountain legally and politically stalled, pressure has been mounting from some members of Congress and the nuclear industry to develop a system of interim storage sites.
But according to the APS report, Consolidated Interim Storage of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel , “there are no technical barriers to long-term safe and secure interim storage of spent nuclear fuel” at the nuclear plant sites where it now resides. The report also...
