Key Issues
Safely Managing Used Nuclear Fuel
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January 2007
Key Facts
January 2007
Key Facts
- All the used nuclear fuel produced by the U.S. nuclear energy industry in 40 years of operation—more than 50,000 metric tons—would, if stacked end to end, cover only an area the size of a football field to a depth of less than 10 yards.
- Used fuel is a solid material that is stored safely at nuclear power plant sites, either in steel-lined, concrete vaults filled with water or in steel or steel-reinforced concrete containers with steel inner canisters.
- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission determined that used fuel could be stored safely at power plant sites for 100 years. Diligent monitoring and maintenance of safety systems ensure public health and safety are protected.
- Advanced technologies, such as those proposed under the Department of Energy’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) initiative, are being developed to reprocess and recycle used nuclear fuel. These technologies, if successful, would reduce the amount of radioactive byproducts in the material, while recovering valuable energy, but would not completely eliminate the byproducts. Under any used fuel management scenario, disposal of radioactive byproducts in a permanent geologic repository is necessary.
- Congress and President Bush approved Yucca Mountain, Nev., as the site of a federal geologic repository for used nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive defense waste in 2002. In the next phase of the program, DOE will submit a license application to the NRC. Once the application is approved, DOE will construct and operate the facility.
