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The United States Faces One of the Greatest Environmental and Political Challenges of the Modern Era: The Disposal of Its Nuclear Waste. With Nuclear Plants Scattered Across the Country, the Volume of Accumulated Radioactive Waste Has Already Surpassed 90 Thousand Tons
The amount of nuclear waste accumulated in the United States exceeds 90,000 tons.
This material is spread across more than 100 sites in 39 states, stored in different types of structures.
The search for a definitive solution has dragged on for decades, but there is still no fixed destination for this type of waste. Meanwhile, reactors continue to produce more waste, increasing the challenge.
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The Frustrated Attempt to Create a Permanent Site
In 1987, a federal law designated Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the permanent disposal site for nuclear waste.
However, political and legal disputes halted construction. When work had only just begun, Congress completely suspended funding in 2011.
Since then, the issue remains unanswered. In March 2025, the Supreme Court of the U.S. reviewed a case regarding the possible temporary storage of this waste.
The decision is expected by the end of June, but even so, the deadlock is likely to continue for many years.
What Comprises U.S. Nuclear Waste
There are two main types of radioactive waste in the U.S. The first is waste from nuclear weapons produced during the Cold War.
The second comes from electricity generation in nuclear power plants. There are also small amounts related to medical treatments, but on a much smaller scale.
In the case of military waste, the material is melted with glass and stored in stainless steel containers.
These containers are about 3 meters tall, 60 centimeters in diameter, and can weigh up to 2,260 kilograms when full.
Today, most of this waste is stored in underground steel tanks. The main sites are Hanford in Washington and Savannah River in South Carolina. In Savannah, part of it has already been treated with glass, but much is still without any form of processing.
Both sites have experienced leaks into the soil. Authorities assert that there are no risks to human health. Efforts today focus on protecting the tanks from corrosion and cracks to prevent new leaks.
The Waste from Nuclear Power Plants
Most of the country’s nuclear waste comes from power generation plants. This waste is the fuel used within the reactors.
Before use, the material appears in the form of uranium oxide pellets, sealed in zirconium tubes, and grouped in bundles.
Each bundle can be between 3.6 and 5.8 meters long and between 13 and 20 centimeters in diameter. They are inserted into the reactors, where nuclear fission reactions occur.
This process generates heat, which is converted into steam or hot water to drive turbines and produce electricity.
After three to five years, fission diminishes, but the material remains highly radioactive. At this point, the bundles are removed from the reactor and taken to a cooling pool containing water, within the plant’s property.
After about five years, the bundles are dried and sealed in stainless steel containers. These containers remain radioactive and need to continue being cooled.
Therefore, they are stored in concrete chambers, also on the plant premises, on a concrete base.
These chambers have openings to ensure air circulation, allowing for constant cooling of the containers. By December 2024, there were already over 315,000 used fuel bundles and more than 3,800 dry storage casks scattered across the country.
Even plants that have already been decommissioned and demolished continue to hold this waste. The responsibility for its storage remains with the energy companies.
A Problem Called Corrosion
Nuclear plants need to be close to water, either to generate steam or to cool the reactor. Therefore, many are located near rivers or the sea. Nine of them are less than 3 kilometers from the ocean.
This factor poses a threat: corrosion. The salty sea water turns into mist that reaches metal structures. Over time, the salt accumulated on these surfaces can cause corrosion of the containers.
Although stainless steel is resistant to corrosion, certain environments can form cavities and cracks. This has already been confirmed in tests funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Still, a radioactive leak would require not only the corrosion of the container but also of the zirconium rods and the fuel inside. Therefore, experts consider it unlikely that this will occur in these systems.
Finding a definitive solution for American nuclear waste still seems a distant prospect.
Any long-term storage site must be geologically stable for thousands of years, politically accepted by the population and feasible for transporting the waste.
Until then, the only alternative remains to keep the waste at the sites where it was produced. Even if the Supreme Court approves a temporary site later this year, the search for a permanent destination will continue indefinitely.
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