Civilian Nuclear Spent Fuel Temporary Storage Options

The Department of Energy (DOE) is studying a site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for a
permanent underground repository for highly radioactive spent fuel from nuclear reactors,
but delays have pushed back the facility’s opening date to 2010 at the earliest. In the
meantime, spent fuel is accumulating at U.S. nuclear plant sites at the rate of about 2,000
metric tons per year. Major options for managing those growing quantities of nuclear spent
fuel include continued storage at reactors, construction of a DOE interim storage site near
Yucca Mountain, and licensing of private storage facilities. Arguments for development of
a federal interim storage facility include DOE legal obligations, long-term costs, and public
controversy over new on-site storage facilities. Opposition to centralized storage centers on
the potential risks of a large-scale nuclear waste transportation campaign.