Finding a Home For America's Nuclear Waste

"Earlier this month, Steven Chu, secretary of the US Department of Energy (DOE), filed papers to finally end the agency's nearly 30-year quest to make Nevada's Yucca Mountain the main US repository for spent nuclear fuel and other radioactive waste. That leaves the United States without a permanent storage site.

The commission is charged with recommending safe, long-term options for storage, processing, and disposal of civilian and military spent nuclear fuel from power plants and high-level radioactive waste. The focus is on finding an alternative to Yucca Mountain, which would have stored 70,000 metric tons of nuclear waste."

And as the federal government emphasizes he expansion of nuclear power, the importance of finding a permanent storage facility for increasing amounts of waste is expected to grow.