- Most of the almost 70,000 tons of spent U.S. nuclear fuel stored in deep pools of water
- Many other countries in similar situation
- No permanent storage available
- Companies reluctant to spend money on dry cask storage
- Estimated $3 to $5 billion to transfer all overcrowded spent fuel to dry casks
It would probably take our whole GDP to deal with spent fuel, especially since there really is no way to deal with it. It amazes me that they keep building new reactors given the longstanding problems that no one has solved. Craziness.
ReplyDeleteIt's really all about the power company profits, since they have been relieved of the expense to permanently store their spent fuel and the DOE has abdicated responsibility take care of it, we sit on a time bomb.
ReplyDeleteAt the VERY LEAST the power companies should be made responsible to provide long term permanent storage. Perhaps once this cost is factored in, nuclear power won't seem as cheap and abundant source of electricity.