Square one for U.S. nuclear waste management program

Thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent fuel are in temporary storage in 35 states, with no permanent solution being discussed. International experts led by Stanford show how to end this status quo. Facebook Twitter Email - Rod Ewing led a three-year study recommending changes to the U.S. nuclear waste management program. (Image credit: Courtesy CISAC) The U.S. government has worked for decades and spent tens of billions of dollars in search of a permanent resting place for the nation's nuclear waste. Some 80,000 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and millions of gallons of high-level nuclear waste from defense programs are stored in pools, dry casks and large tanks at more than 75 sites throughout the country. A Stanford University-led study recommends that the United States reset its nuclear waste program by moving responsibility for commercially generated, used nuclear fuel away from the federal government and into the hands of an independent, nonprofit, utility-owned and -funded nuclear waste management organization. "No single group, institution or governmental organization is incentivized to find a solution," said Rod Ewing , co-director of Stanford's Center for International Security and Cooperation and a professor of geological sciences.