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Running head: Examining America’s Nuclear Waste Storage 1

Examining America’s Nuclear Waste Storage

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Examining America’s Nuclear Waste Storage 2

Examining America’s Nuclear Waste Storage

Just like all other industries, production of commercial nuclear power produces some wastes that

have to be well managed to reduce their potential harm to the environment and human health.

Currently, in America, industrial fuel wastes are cooled and stored at the sites where they were

generated, in either steel lined pool or concrete. After 3-10 years, they are then transferred to

above-ground steel casks or dry concretes. However, this approach is contrary to the initial laid

down plan. According to the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act, the Department of Energy (DOE)

signed an agreement with commercial nuclear power firms to collect and store the nuclear waste.

After considering various factors, Yucca Mountain was chosen as a national repository site (Tubb,

2017). Part of the deal was that the nuclear companies and their ratepayers should cover the entire

costs of disposing of nuclear waste, but not taxpayers. But everything changed in 2008 when the

Obama Administration made several changes, including the decision that Yucca Mountain “wasn’t

a workable option.” As a result of the political difficulty, today the federal government is

responsible for the disposal of commercial nuclear waste. Consequently, taxpayers are left with

the burden to cover the disposal bill.

Nuclear waste is an issue that is here to stay for as many as 24,000 years (if there is the presence

of radioactive isotope plutonium-239). Therefore it’s imperative that we know how to store these

wastes. However, the politics surrounding this whole issue has made it hard to find a permanent

solution to this issue. Since President Obama’s decision to withdraw the license for Yucca

Mountain, it has become even harder to find a long-lasting solution, especially as fuel waste is

increasingly being stored on-site without the required fuel-handling infrastructure. Just as the Blue

Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future report states; America's failure to find a solution

Examining America’s Nuclear Waste Storage 3

to the nuclear waste problem has already proved both costly and damaging (Wallace 2013). In fact,

it will be even costlier in the long run. It will, for instance, make it hard to rely on nuclear energy

in the future. It will reduce the public confidence in the competence of the federal government.

Additionally, failure to find the solution will damage America’s image in the world—both as a

policy expert in nuclear technology and as a leader on the global issues of nuclear nonproliferation,

safety and security. Simply put America's inability to handle the political issues surrounding the

nuclear waste undermines the country’s environment, energy, and national security policy. Solving

this political challenge should be done immediately, that’s if America wants to restore its

leadership position in nuclear energy, globally.

Examining America’s Nuclear Waste Storage 4

References

Gin, S., Abdelouas, A., Criscenti, L. J., Ebert, W. L., Ferrand, K., Geisler, T., ... & Marra, J. C.

(2013). An international initiative on long-term behavior of high-level nuclear waste

glass. Materials Today, 16(6), 243-248.

https://www.csis.org/analysis/finding-solution-america%E2%80%99s-nuclear-waste-problem

Tubb, K. (2017). Yucca Mountain: The Department of Energy Should Take Steps Now While

Awaiting Funding. Heritage Foundation Issue Brief, (4705).

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