US still lacks plan for storing nuclear waste

New York Times : The Department of Energy was supposed to begin accepting nuclear waste for burial in 1998. But the Yucca Mountain facility was never approved, so the agency has been paying penalties to the power utilities to maintain the waste at the reactor sites. Those penalties have already amounted to $2 billion. The waste, which is stored in concrete and steel containers, requires monitoring and secure facilities, and some has been on site for 30 years. Until recently, a total of 9 facilities had no active reactors but were still storing waste—2800 tons in 284 containers. As of this year, 4 more reactors have been shut down, which brings the total number of such facilities to 12. Because no permanent storage site yet exists, it has been proposed that a temporary centralized storage site be established. But finding a suitable temporary location is running into the same problems as potential permanent locations, and is complicated by a law prohibiting the DOE from developing an interim site until work has begun on a permanent location. Once a site is chosen, centralizing the fuel from the 120 locations scattered around the US will be difficult. The storage containers may not be compatible, and many of the sites that lack operating reactors no longer have the necessary equipment to move the waste.