Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is now director of the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at the University of British Columbia in Canada. (Emma Lee/WHYY)Īt a Holtec factory in Camden, N.J., workers check for defects in the containers with multiple tests, including putting them through an X-ray machine.īut despite all the tests, geologist Allison Macfarlane, says they will eventually leak and break down. And there is no release of radioactive material … even under an event of such force.” Joy Russell, Holtec’s Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, gives a tour of the company’s Camden plant, which manufactures spent fuel storage and transportation modules for nuclear plants around the world. “We have modeled a 767 aircraft and also an F 16 aircraft crashing into an array of the overpacks. These concrete cylinders, which are also called overpacks, are very safe, said nuclear engineer Joy Russell, the chief commercial officer for Holtec International, a leading manufacturer. Derek Woodrum, Holtec’s site safety representative, stands between two nuclear storage modules assembled at the company’s manufacturing plant in Camden. nuclear power plants store the spent fuel in giant concrete cylinders that are more than 10 feet tall with layers of concrete and stainless steel several inches thick. has 88,000 metric tons of spent fuel in nuclear power plants in around 30 states and adds 2,000 tons each year. The spent fuel is still highly radioactive. After a few years, the fuel cannot sustain the reaction anymore, and becomes spent.
Nuclear power plants use nuclear fuel to generate electricity by a fission reaction, which involves atoms splitting. has “fallen to the back of the pack” and needs decades to catch up. This story is from The Pulse, a weekly health and science podcast.įind it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.Īs Sweden, Finland, and Canada move forward with plans to store nuclear waste in the long term, experts say the U.S.
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