Nuclear Power Back In Vogue, Authorities Debate Waste Storage

In the quest for greener, cleaner energy, nuclear power is making a bit of a come-back.

In Georgia, construction is underway on the first new nuclear plant to be ordered in the U.S. in three decades. Many people are talking about including more nukes in America's energy mix — including President Obama.

In many ways it makes sense: it's clean power that doesn't belch carbon into the atmosphere like coal does. But there is a problem, and it's as old as the nuclear industry itself: what do we with the waste?

We were reminded of that again this week when the attorneys general of New York, Connecticut and Vermont sued the Nuclear Regulatory Commission — the NRC — about this very issue.

The U.S. still has no permanent plan for the storage of spent nuclear fuel. For years, the federal government was readying a site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but the Obama administration has scrapped that plan.That means spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste will continue to be stored at nuclear plants across the country. In December, the NRC issued an opinion that said nuclear waste can be safely stored in this manner at nuclear power plants across the country for 60 years after the plants shut down.

William Sorrell, the Attorney General of Vermont, along with the attorneys general of New York and Connecticut, argue that this policy is potentially dangerous. They want the NRC to evaluate the storage issue on a case-by-case basis.

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