The U.S. Has $50 Billion for Nuclear Waste and Nowhere to Put It

Finland and the United States are exemplifying two opposing approaches to managing the mounting problem of spent nuclear fuel. Finland is about to open the world's first permanent nuclear waste disposal facility. The United States is stuck in a cycle of endless political turnover and resultant gridlock about how to address the more than 90,000 metric tons of spent fuel sitting in temporary facilities around the country, posing a mounting public health hazard and tax dollar sink.

The Onkalo site named after the Finnish for 'cave' will encapsulate radioactive spent nuclear fuel in copper canisters designed to safely store the hazardous materials, and then store them 400 meters 1,312 feet under the ground within the bedrock, where they will be insulated with shock-absorbent clay.