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| BWRs @ Indian Point, NY |
One of the problems facing the American nuclear power industry is what to do with high-level nuclear waste now that the country does not have the Yucca Mountain site for disposal. High level waste consists mostly of spent fuel assemblies. The answer has been to dispose of the waste
in situ sometimes above ground. Prior to the change in NRC regulations, spent fuel could be stored for 30 years after
closure of a plant. The NRC changed the rule to allow 60 years of "temporary" storage as a response to the lack of a national depository. Yucca Mountain is opposed by environmentalists and Nevada officials at all levels of government.
{"Yucca Mountain"}. The suit was brought last month by Vermont, Connecticut and New York, all states having aging nuclear facilities, and asks the federal government be ordered to conduct the legally required environmental impact studies. Both Indian Point
[photo] and Vermont Yankee have had leaks of radioactive material into groundwater. Vermont Yankee is approaching capacity for its spent fuel pool. Connecticut has 2 operating plants, Millstone 2 & 3 and two decommissioned plants, Connecticut Yankee and Millstone 1. Overheating of spent fuel and associated radioactive fallout at the Fukusima-Daiichi plant has
proved a difficult problem to cure once safety systems go down.
The utility company that owns the Diaiich plant, Tokyo Electric Power, said it was succeeding in the battle to bring the partially melted reactors under control. Smoke billowed from Units 2 and 3, briefly halting recovery work on Monday. The NRC said all reactor primary containments are in tact despite damage to the reactor cores. Unit 2's cooling systems are no longer functional. The European Radiation Risk model
predicts 120,000 cancer cases worldwide from the Fukushima incident based on known radiation releases to date.
