Nuclear Waste Storage Sites in the United States

Nuclear Waste Storage Sites in the United States

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Updated April 13, 2020
Nuclear Waste Storage Sites in the United States
Congressional interest in nuclear waste is generally focused
initial cool-down period, most facilities transfer SNF to dry
on managing commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF), the
casks and store it on site. Dry cask storage of SNF does not
waste produced from commercial nuclear power plants, and
require active cooling dependent upon pumps. Plant
other high-level nuclear wastes (HLW), largely from Cold
operators place dry casks within a security perimeter
War–era nuclear weapons materials production. No
outside of the reactor building, either vertically on a
country, including the United States, has a permanent
concrete pad or within an engineered concrete bunker.
geologic repository for disposal of commercial SNF and
HLW stored at DOE sites is characteristically different
other HLW. Currently, commercial nuclear power plants
from SNF produced at commercial nuclear reactors. The
generally store SNF on site, awaiting disposal in a
historical production of nuclear warheads by DOE and its
permanent repository.
predecessor agencies generated most HLW, which consists
of radioactive liquids from reprocessing SNF and extracting
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA; P.L. 97-
special nuclear materials. DOE manages most HLW as
425) authorized the Department of Energy (DOE) to site a
liquids in underground tanks. DOE has converted some
geologic repository for the permanent disposal of high-level
HLW to a powder form and some has been solidified in
radioactive waste. Congress amended the NWPA in 1987 to
glass for future disposal.
designate Yucca Mountain, NV, as the only location to be
considered by DOE to construct a national high-level
Nuclear Waste Storage
nuclear waste repository. Political and legal opposition to
In the absence of a permanent geologic repository for high-
the project has delayed the licensing, construction, and
level nuclear waste, commercial nuclear power plants have
operation of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository.
been storing SNF on site using wet pool and dry cask
NWPA authorized DOE to enter into agreements with
storage methods pursuant to regulations promulgated by the
nuclear utilities and other reactor owners to collect fees to
Nuclear Regulatory Commission under the Atomic Energy
pay for DOE’s disposal of the SNF. However, due to the
Act, as amended (P.L. 83-703). The U.S. Nuclear Waste
delay in operation of a permanent repository, the federal
Technical Review Board estimates the quantity of SNF
government has paid roughly $7.4 billion from the
stored as of 2012 at commercial nuclear power plants will
Judgment Fund to nuclear utilities and other reactor owners
approximately double by 2048.
pursuant to court settlements and final judgments through
FY2018. Figure 1 shows the locations of 80 sites in the
Stranded Sites
United States where nuclear waste is currently stored. At 57
At 23 nuclear waste storage sites (29% of the total sites),
of these sites, 96 operating nuclear reactors generate
there are no ongoing reactor operations. These “stranded
approximately 20% of the total annual electricity
sites” are facilities that store nuclear waste but lack an
production for the United States. A “site” in Figure 1 is a
operating reactor generating power and revenue. Stranded
geographically distinct location. In some instances, multiple
does not imply that the waste has been abandoned or lacks
nuclear reactors may be co-located (operating or not) at a
regulatory oversight. Sites where operating and shutdown
single site.
reactors are co-located are not considered stranded sites
regardless of the presence of stored SNF from a co-located
Generation of Spent Nuclear Fuel and Other High-
closed reactor.
Level Nuclear Waste
Commercial civilian nuclear reactors use low-enriched
Issues for Congress
uranium oxide to generate nuclear power through fission
Among other proposals, the House- and Senate-introduced
reactions. The heat from fission in the reactor drives a
versions of the Nuclear Waste Policy Amendments Act of
steam turbine and a generator. Over time, the reactor fuel
2019 (H.R. 2699 and S. 2917) in the 116th Congress would
becomes incapable of economically producing power (i.e.,
authorize DOE to initiate a program for developing
“spent”) and must be replaced. Fuel assemblies removed
consolidated interim nuclear waste storage sites during the
from the reactor following power production are called
ongoing development and construction of a permanent
spent nuclear fuel. SNF is stored in one of two ways: in wet
repository. Other bills introduced in the 116th Congress
storage pools and in dry casks. Immediately following
included S. 1234, which would establish the Nuclear Waste
power production, SNF is discharged from the reactors and
Administration to manage nuclear waste and ensure funding
stored in wet storage pools on site, as it remains intensely
for managing nuclear waste, among other purposes.
radioactive and thermally hot. Wet pools provide regulated
Senators and Representatives from Nevada—the state
conditions allowing the SNF to cool while water is
where the proposed Yucca Mountain repository is
circulated and maintained to keep it from boiling off and
located—introduced legislation in the 116th Congress (H.R.
uncovering the SNF. Some sites store SNF using a
1544 and S. 649) to require DOE to obtain the consent of
combination of wet storage and dry casks. Following the
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Nuclear Waste Storage Sites in the United States
local and state governments prior to expenditures from the
Nuclear Waste Fund for the repository.
Figure 1. Nuclear Waste Storage Sites in the United States

Sources: Compiled by CRS using various U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Nuclear Energy Institute sources, including Evaluation of
Options for Permanent Geologic Disposal of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in Support of a Comprehensive National Nuclear Fuel
Cycle Strategy, FCRD-UFD-2013-000371, Revision 1; SAND2014-0187P (vol. I); SAND2014-0189P (vol. II), April 15, 2014; DOE, Report to
Congress on the Demonstration of the Interim Storage of Spent Nuclear Fuel from Decommissioned Nuclear Power Reactor Sites, DOE/RW-0596,
December 2008; Frank Marcinowski, Overview of DOE’s Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Waste: Presentation to the Blue Ribbon Commission on
America’s Nuclear Future, DOE, March 25, 2010.
Notes: Nuclear waste refers to spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and other high-level nuclear waste. The locations of
research reactor sites, special nuclear materials (e.g., plutonium-239 and uranium-235), transuranic wastes, or low-level nuclear wastes were
not included in this analysis. No nuclear waste storage sites are located in Alaska or Hawai .

For more information, see these other CRS
 CRS Report R45306, The U.S. Nuclear Weapons
products:
Complex: Overview of Department of Energy Sites, by

Amy F. Woolf and James D. Werner.
CRS Report RL33461, Civilian Nuclear Waste
Disposal, by Mark Holt.
 CRS Report R45753, The Front End of the Nuclear Fuel

Cycle: Current Issues, by Lance N. Larson
CRS Report R42513, U.S. Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage,
by James D. Werner.
Lance N. Larson, Analyst in Environmental Policy
 CRS Report R42853, Nuclear Energy: Overview of
IF11201
Congressional Issues, by Mark Holt.

https://crsreports.congress.gov

Nuclear Waste Storage Sites in the United States

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https://crsreports.congress.gov | IF11201 · VERSION 5 · UPDATED