Nuclear Waste: Is There A Need For Federal Interim Storage?
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| is_there_a_need_for_interim_storage_s.pdf (24.89 MB) | 24.89 MB |
About 20,000 metric tons of spent, or used, nuclear
fuel have accumulated since the beginning of commercial
nuclear power prbduction in the United States. At the end
of the currently licensed period of all existing nuclear power
plants and those under construction, the amount of spent
nuclear fuel is expected to total 87,000 metric tons.
Thus far, practically all of the spent nuclear fuel is
stored in water-filled pools at reactor sites. However, space
does not exist in the pools to store all the spent fuel expected
to accumulate over the lifetime of the reactors.
Therefore, other storage must be made available.
U.S. policy is to dispose of spent fuel from nuclear
power plants in a permanent underground geologic repository.
The objective of permanent disposal is to limit to safe
quantities the amount of nuclear waste that might reach the
biosphere during the next 10,000 years and beyond.
The MRS makes three recommendations for interim storage. The Monitored Retrievable Storage Review Commis-sion believes that these recommendations would provide
safe interim storage of spent nuclear fuel, would be consis-tent with the goals of the national nuclear waste manage-ment system, and would provide for flexibility and
unforeseen contingencies.
