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The nuclear crisis in Japan has laid bare an ever-growing problem for the United States — the enormous amounts of still-hot radioactive waste accumulating at commercial nuclear reactors in more than 30 states.The U.S. has 71,862 tons of the waste, according to state-by-state numbers obtained by The Associated Press. But the nation has no place to permanently store the material, which stays dangerous for tens of thousands of years.Plans to store nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain have been abandoned, but even if a facility had been built there, America already has more waste than it could have handled.Three-quarters of the waste sits in water-filled cooling pools like those at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Japan, outside the thick concrete-and-steel barriers meant to guard against a radioactive release from a nuclear reactor.Spent fuel at Dai-ichi overheated, possibly melting fuel-rod casings and spewing radiation into the air, after Japan's tsunami knocked out power t...
Panel: 68 Nuke Plants May Be VulnerableWednesday, April 06, 2005PrintWASHINGTON Fuel storage pools at nuclear power plants ( search ) in 31 states may be vulnerab...
The top U.S. nuclear regulator said Monday he will not change a recommendation that U.S. citizens stay at least 50 miles away from Japan's crippled nuclear power pla...
Future nuclear power plants should include design improvements to better protect against a terrorist attack by large aircraft, the chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory...
Total nuke dump cost to top $90 billionTuesday, July 15, 2008By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press WriterE-Mail Print Share:WASHINGTON Turns out, it's going to cost t...
Nevada Nuclear Dump Plans, Years Behind Schedule, Could Be Delayed MoreTuesday, March 06, 2007E-Mail Print Share:WASHINGTON The Energy Department unveiled legisla...
Feds reject protest to nuclear waste storage planThursday, October 23, 2008By ERICA WERNER, Associated Press WriterE-Mail Print Share:WASHINGTON Federal regulator...
Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Site Plans Rise $32 Billion in 7 YearsTuesday, July 15, 2008PrintWASHINGTON Turns out, it's going to cost taxpayers $32 billion more ...
NRC Chief Says Future Reactors Should Include Better Protection Against Terror Attacks By PlaneWednesday, January 17, 2007E-Mail Print Share:WASHINGTON Future nuc...