Used Nuclear Fuel

The United States must establish a sustainable national program—supported by dedicated funding—to permanently dispose of this fuel. 

Over the past 40 years, nuclear plant owners and operators have loaded and safely maintained over 4,000 dry used fuel storage systems at reactor sites. These robust containers stand ready for shipment to a permanent disposal facility.  This provides a strong foundation on which to build the used fuel management infrastructure of the future.  As the nuclear industry prepares for significant growth, the same companies that have built this record of success are already working on solutions for new and advanced reactors.  This solution may include consolidated storage and recycling technologies to augment the disposal system. In fact, the DOE has recently proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses that would combine used fuel management and recycling with advanced nuclear technologies.  

How Did We Get Here?

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (NWPA) codified the federal government’s responsibility for developing a geologic repository for the permanent disposal of used nuclear fuel. In 2002, the President and Congress approved Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the site for a geologic repository. In 2010, however, it was halted due to an ineffective top-down federal approach to project development that was not well received in the potential host state of Nevada.  It was subsequently defunded by Congress.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act was written during a period when nuclear plant cancellations and early reactor shutdowns led many policymakers to expect a shrinking nuclear industry, not long-term license renewals, power uprates, and significant new reactor deployment. During that same period, commercial fuel recycling and reprocessing activities in the United States largely were abandoned primarily because of economic concerns. The law therefore reflected the technologies, policies, and industry expectations of the early 1980s, before today’s advanced reactors and fuel-cycle innovations emerged. 

Now, with bipartisan support for expanding nuclear energy, extending the operation of the current reactor fleet, and meeting rapidly growing electricity demand, policymakers are increasingly evaluating how to modernize the nation’s used fuel management program. These efforts include approaches that emphasize collaboration among federal, state, tribal, and local governments, more integrated fuel-cycle infrastructure, and growing interest in nuclear energy investment, advanced fuel-cycle capabilities, and recycling technologies. 

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Steps We Can Take

NEI has established policy principles for the U.S. to have a durable, safe, environmentally sustainable, and well-run used fuel management and disposal system by 2050.

To achieve this vision, the industry has identified eight essential elements for the U.S. used fuel management program:

1. Effective governance structure
2. Strategic use of the Nuclear Waste Fund
3. Preservation of contract rights
4. Collaborative siting processes
5. Operational disposal infrastructure
6. Flexible interim storage solutions
7. Sustainable recycling initiatives
8. Public and political support

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Watch how used fuel is safely transported

Recycling Used Nuclear Fuel

With next generation advanced reactors under development, many developers are looking at a suite of recycling technologies, beyond current approaches, that could potentially allow for greater use of the energy that remains in used fuel. There are a wide range of innovative advanced reactor designs being considered and each would call for different feedstock strategies. There also are developing technologies that would extract valuable radioisotopes (e.g., for medical purposes) from used fuel. In both cases, feedstock could be produced by recycling used fuel of all types discharged from current light water reactors or—in the future—used fuel from advanced reactors. The U.S. Department of Energy has, under both Democratic and Republican Administrations, funded a significant amount of research and development of these recycling technologies. Built on the progress of these efforts, DOE’s recently proposed Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campus initiative would be centered around the commercialization of these technologies in combination with used fuel storage, disposal, and the deployment of advanced nuclear reactor and fuel supply technologies.

NEI has adopted the following principles to guide industry’s efforts to advance recycling technologies.

• Recycling would not replace the need for disposal in a geologic repository. Even in an integrated used fuel management program that includes recycling, a geologic repository would remain necessary because some radioactive byproducts will require permanent disposal. Co‐locating recycling facilities with repository and consolidated interim storage facilities has the potential to provide potential host communities with additional economic benefits.
• Recycling technologies should further clean energy and sustainability goals. The existing inventory of used nuclear fuel contains the energy potential to provide the U.S. with many additional decades of carbon‐free electricity.
• Recycling technologies should increase the economic competitiveness of future nuclear reactors. In the future, it may be more cost effective to produce new fuel with used nuclear feedstock than by beginning with natural uranium—lowering electricity bills, spurring economic growth, and improving energy equity. 
• Recycling should help improve U.S. energy security. Recycling, in conjunction with increased domestic uranium production, could enable a long‐term strategy to reduce U.S. dependence on imported uranium nuclear fuel. 
• The U.S. should support research, development, and demonstration of used nuclear fuel recycling technologies
• Recycling technologies should avoid unacceptable proliferation risks. U.S. recycling efforts should be guided by best practices established through global experience to date.
• The NRC should license recycling facilities under its current regulations and implement innovative approaches to achieve timely reviews of recycling facilities. The NRC will need to develop its workforce consistent with the need to license and inspect recycling facilities in the future.

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A Quick Lesson on Used Nuclear Fuel in America