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Commercial nuclear reactors provided about one fifth of U.S. electricity in 1994. The 109 commercial reactors, located at 70 sites across the United States, produced almost no greenhouse gases or atmospheric pollutants but did generate about 2,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel. Total U.S. commercial spent nuclear fuel from activities occurring between 1968 and 1995 amounted to 32.3 thousand metric tons of uranium. Estimates of the total volume to be accumulated by 2015 are about 74-75 thousand metric tons.
Reactor fuel consists of small pellets of uranium oxide sealed in long tubes. Fission by-products build up in the fuel tubes during use and gradually inhibit the reaction; at that time, the tubes are removed as "spent fuel." The spent fuel includes highly radioactive nuclides which can cause illness or death, depending on the level of exposure. The spent fuel must be safely stored at U.S. nuclear power plants or away-from-reactor storage facilities in order to protect human health and the environment. This spent nuclear fuel represents a long-term liability in the sense that it imposes costs on future generations.
Developing and maintaining sufficient capacity for the safe very long-term storage of spent fuel is one of the challenges involved in continued use of nuclear power. A reactor loses the authority to operate when there is insufficient storage space for its spent fuel. As of December 31, 1994, thirty-one reactors had filled over half of their on-site pool storage capacity. As a consequence, a number of utilities are planning or building on-site dry storage facilities or Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act directs that a permanent geologic repository shall be developed for the long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel and other high-level radioactive waste from commercial and defense activities. The Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments of 1987 designated the Yucca Mountain, Nevada, site for detailed scientific investigation to evaluate the site's suitability for a geologic repository. Site characterization analyses for this assessment are underway but the preparation and filing of a license application for the repository has been deferred. Since spent fuel remains hazardous for thousands of years, spent fuel disposal and management is one of the longest-term challenges for sustainable development.
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http://www.sdi.gov/indicators/lc_nucle.htm Last Modified: May 14, 2002 |