Nuclear plants produce waste while generating electricity, but it’s not glowing green goo like you see in some movies or The Simpsons.
What Is Used Fuel?
Used fuel is much different from what you might think.
- When most people talk about nuclear waste, they’re referring to fuel that’s been used in a reactor once. Most of the radioactivity associated with nuclear power remains contained in the fuel in which it was produced. Nuclear fuel is used to produce electricity for about five years. Then, it’s removed and safely stored until a permanent disposal site becomes available. Nuclear plants also produce low-level radioactive waste which is safely managed and routinely disposed of at various sites around the country.
- It is a solid. Nuclear fuel is solid when it goes in a reactor and solid when it comes out. It is arranged in fuel assemblies: sets of sealed metal tubes that hold ceramic uranium pellets. The radioactive byproducts of nuclear reactions remain inside the fuel. No green goo anywhere.
- There is not that much of it. All the used fuel created by fueling one person's entire life with nuclear can fit in a soda can.
- It can still be used for energy. Used fuel has only exhausted part of the potential energy in the uranium pellets after five years in a reactor. Some countries like France reprocess and recycle nuclear fuel, extracting elements still capable of generating energy for use in new fuel and encasing the radioactive byproducts in solid glass logs for permanent disposal. The United States currently does not, but some advanced reactor designs in development would be able to run on used fuel. Advancements in recycling may allow used fuel to become a valuable resource that enhances economic competitiveness of nuclear reactors and strengthens U.S. energy security.
Is Nuclear Waste Handled Safely?
- Absolutely. The nuclear industry handles used fuel safely and in compliance with the stringent requirements of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- The U.S. started discharging nuclear waste from the first of the current generation of commercial reactors back in the 1960s into pools. We then filled up the pools, and began developing dry cask storage technology that's been operational since the mid 1980s. These systems are licensed out to the 2060s. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said that they would be good for at least 100 years.
What Happens to Used Fuel?
- When cool enough that it no longer needs to be stored underwater—typically for 2 to 5 years after removal from the reactor—used fuel is transferred and stored in large steel-reinforced concrete containers (the dry cask storage systems described above) which are designed for long term storage until a site is available for permanent disposal. They’re safe enough to walk up to and touch.
- The final step in the process is permanent disposal deep underground in a facility known as a geologic repository. The science behind disposal is well established, and repositories are being developed around the globe. Finland’s repository is licensed, constructed, and in the final testing phase. Sweden has approved a site and has a facility under construction. Canada and Switzerland have selected sites and are in the licensing process. Seven other nations are actively seeking sites.
- In the United States a potential site at Yucca Mountain, Nevada was found to meet NRC’s and EPA’s stringent safety and environmental regulations. Nevertheless, the project was opposed in Nevada and subsequently defunded by Congress. Work at that site has been on hold for over a decade while the nation considers alternatives. Wherever the US locates a repository, NEI’s used fuel policy principles describe the essential elements of an effective program to bring it to completion.
- Consolidated interim storage sites also have been proposed so that used fuel can be more efficiently managed until a disposal site becomes available. And recycling centers may also be developed to extract useful components of the used fuel to produce more energy before disposing of the radioactive byproducts.
- Future siting decisions should be made with support and collaboration from tribal, state, and local governments, resulting in widely accepted locations for used fuel management facilities.
NEI’s new policy principles for used fuel outline a path to the U.S. having a durable, safe, environmentally sustainable, and well-run used fuel management and disposal system. To learn more about NEI’s policy principles, click here.
