December 08, 2015

Data Released on America’s Spent Fuel

By ExchangeMonitor

The U.S. Energy Information Administration on Tuesday released data on the growing amount of spent fuel left from operation of 118 commercial reactors from 1968 through June 2013.

The latest data from the Nuclear Fuel Data Survey shows a total of 241,468 fuel assemblies, with a starting loading weight of about 70,000 metric tons of uranium (MTU), were discharged from and stored at the 118 reactors in the 45-year span. The data shows Illinois, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina as having the greatest amount of stored nuclear material, recording more than 4,000 MTU each.

About two-thirds of America’s full spent nuclear fuel originated in pressurized-water reactors, while about one-third comes from boiling-water reactors. Nearly all spent fuel is stored on-site at commercial nuclear power plants, according to the survey, while less than 1 percent has been shipped to off-site locations. For the full report, visit: http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=24052.

The U.S. Energy Department is ultimately charged with permanent storage of the spent fuel. The Obama administration suspended work on the planned Yucca Mountain repository, and earlier this year announced plans to "decomingle" defense and commercial waste into separate geologic repositories.

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