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Around the U.S., is stored at , in a range of different structures and containers.

For decades, the nation has been trying to send it all to one secure location.

A 1987 federal law named , as a permanent disposal site for nuclear waste—but led to construction delays. Work on the site had barely started before in 2011.

The continue to generate more radioactive waste. Public and commercial interest in nuclear power is rising because of concerns regarding emissions from fossil fuel power plants and the possibility of new applications for smaller-scale nuclear plants to and . This renewed interest gives new urgency to the effort to find a place to put the waste.

In March 2025, the related to the effort to for the nation's nuclear waste—a ruling is expected by late June. No matter the outcome, the decades-long struggle to find a permanent place to dispose of nuclear waste will probably continue for many years to come.

I am a in corrosion; one focus of my work has been containing nuclear waste during temporary storage and permanent disposal. There are generally in the U.S.: waste from making nuclear weapons during the Cold War, and waste from generating electricity at nuclear power plants. There are also small amounts of other radioactive waste, such as that .

Waste from weapons manufacturing

Remnants of the chemical processing of radioactive material needed to manufacture nuclear weapons, often called "defense waste," will eventually be , with the resulting material poured into stainless steel containers. These canisters are 10 feet tall and 2 feet in diameter, weighing approximately 5,000 pounds when filled.

For now, though, most of it is stored in underground steel tanks, primarily at , and , key sites in U.S. nuclear weapons development. At Savannah River, some of the waste has already been processed with glass, but much of it remains untreated.

At both of those locations, some of the radioactive waste has already , though officials have said there is no danger to human health. Most of the current efforts to contain the waste focus on protecting the tanks from corrosion and cracking to prevent further leakage.

Waste from electricity generation

The vast majority of nuclear waste in the U.S. is spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants.

Before it is used, nuclear fuel exists as uranium oxide pellets that are sealed within zirconium tubes, which are themselves bundled together. These bundles of fuel rods are about 12 to 16 feet long and about 5 to 8 inches in diameter. In a nuclear reactor, the fission reactions fueled by the uranium in those rods or steam to drive turbines and generate electricity.

After about three to five years, the fission reactions in a given bundle of fuel , even though the material remains highly radioactive. The spent fuel bundles are removed from the reactor and moved , where they are placed into a .

After about five years, the fuel bundles are removed, dried and . These canisters are still radioactive and thermally hot, so they are stored outdoors in , also on the power plant's property. These vaults have vents to ensure air flows past the canisters to continue cooling them.

As of December 2024, there were in the U.S., and in concrete vaults above ground, located at current and former power plants across the country.

Even reactors that have been still have concrete vaults storing radioactive waste, which must be secured and maintained by the power company that owned the nuclear plant.

The threat of water

One threat to these storage methods is corrosion.

Because to both transfer nuclear energy into electricity and to cool the reactor, nuclear power plants are always located alongside sources of water.

In the U.S., , which poses a particular threat to the waste containers. As waves break on the coastline, saltwater is sprayed into the air as particles. When those salt and water particles settle on metal surfaces, they can , which is why it's common to see heavily corroded structures near the ocean.

At nuclear waste storage locations near the ocean, that salt spray can settle on the steel canisters. Generally, stainless steel is , which you can see in the shiny pots and pans in many Americans' kitchens. But in certain circumstances, can form on stainless steel surfaces.

In recent years, the U.S. Department of Energy has funded research, including my own, into the . The general findings are that stainless when stored near a seashore. But a radioactive leak would require not only corrosion of the container but also of the zirconium rods and of the fuel inside them. So it is unlikely that this type of corrosion would result in the release of radioactivity.

A long way off

A more permanent solution is .

Not only must a long-term site be geologically suitable to store nuclear waste for thousands of years, but it must also be politically palatable to the American people. In addition, there will be many challenges associated with , in its containers, by road , from reactors across the country to wherever that permanent site ultimately is.

Perhaps there will be a temporary site whose location passes muster with the Supreme Court. But in the meantime, the waste will stay where it is.