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Nuclear power plants produce spent nuclear fuel which is highly radioactive and must be replaced after 3-6 years. The US produces 2,000 tons of it annually and has no permanent storage solution. Reprocessing waste is an alternative but expensive.
Spent nuclear fuel is radioactive material that has been used as fuel in nuclear power plants. Once this material has been used for a significant period of time, it loses its efficiency as a fuel and must be replaced. Unfortunately, at this point we are dealing with radioactive waste, which can be deadly to humans and other creatures for thousands of years. The methods for disposing of spent nuclear fuel have often been controversial. Some scientists have proposed reprocessing waste into useful fuel as an alternative to other disposal methods.
Nuclear power plants create electricity through controlled nuclear reactions. This involves processing highly radioactive materials such as uranium and plutonium. The amount of time this fuel remains useful varies according to the age of the reactor and its level of technology. As of 2011, most modern nuclear power plants can burn fuel for three to six years before the material deteriorates to the point where it is no longer useful. After this point, the material is considered spent nuclear fuel.
According to the US Department of Energy, US nuclear facilities produce approximately 2,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel annually. The problem then becomes how to dispose of it. Most nuclear facilities place fuel in nearby isolated tanks called spent fuel pools. The specially treated water in these tanks cools the material and absorbs most of the radiation emitted by the fuel. The material is often stored for 10-20 years in these pools.
After decades of use, however, many of these tanks are nearly full of spent nuclear fuel. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission estimates that many of them will be unusable after 2015. US law requires the government to find a permanent repository for dangerous nuclear waste, but environmental concerns have prevented the construction of such storage sites. Meanwhile, the spent fuel is placed in concrete barrels, but this method is also controversial for environmental and safety reasons. Other nations with nuclear reactors are facing similar problems.
One solution already used by countries such as France and Russia is the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Because spent fuel remains radioactive, it can be used for further energy after reprocessing; less radioactive waste results from reused fuel, although the process itself is expensive. These issues gained new prominence after the 2011 Japan earthquake and nuclear crisis caused many to re-examine nuclear energy policy. There are also concerns that some countries may use spent nuclear fuel to create nuclear weapons. Nuclear energy and radioactive waste have always been contentious issues and the debate looks set to continue in the future.
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