Managing Spent Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste

Interim management: Today’s U.S. commercial nuclear reactors will generate on the order of 100,000 metric tons of spent fuel containing about 1,000 metric tons of plutonium. So long as these reactors are operating, spent fuel pools are essential. Safety and security are best served if pool storage is in a low-density, open frame arrangement and as much of the spent fuel as possible is put into hardened dry storage. Suitable and sufficient storage is also essential for defense high-level waste.