Nuclear Waste

The nuclear waste problem has not been solved.

New nuclear plants would add to the country’s problem of nuclear waste. The federal government has long been in default of its obligations to existing nuclear plant operators to take the waste away from their sites. Nuclear utilities have had to take the government to court to recover added storage expenses, which will cost the taxpayers billions or possibly even tens of billions of dollars over time. To imagine that the federal government will take charge of waste from new plants where it does not even have contracts is wishful thinking. It is much more likely that Victoria County and Texas would be stuck with it.

In FORTUNE magazine (May 2006 “Meet Mr. Nuke”), John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, discusses the issue of building more reactors before a waste solution is in place:

…Rowe [CEO of Exelon] says he does not want to build another nuclear plant until the nation’s spent-fuel disposal problem is solved.… Solving the waste problem is “essential” for good business, says Rowe. “We have to be able to look the public in the eye and say, ‘If we build a plant, here’s where the waste will go.’ If we can’t answer that question honestly to our neighbors, then we’re playing politics too high for us to be playing.”

The NRC requires that nuclear waste be stored safely for 1000 years. Currently, there are no facilities for permanent disposal of high-level radioactive waste in the United States, yet Exelon is proposing new plants without a long-term storage solution in place.

• Where is all the nuclear waste going to go?
• Energy from nuclear power has been around less than 100 years, yet our best scientists believe nuclear waste must be stored for more than 1000 years. Are you ready to let the next 40 generations of your family be the test site for this theory?
• If the waste is stored on-site, how long will it be stored there and what impacts will that have on safety?