DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) – There are currently about 80 locations in 34 states around the country where spent nuclear fuel is stored after it is removed from a commercial nuclear reactor.
One of those is in DeWitt County where the Clinton Power Station operates. Now, a bipartisan group of members of Congress want that spent fuel removed.
“We have a serious and growing spent nuclear fuel crisis in the United States,” Congressman Mike Levin, (D-Calif.), told WAND News. “What we cannot have happen is we can’t leave all the waste where it currently sits which is at a number of our nation’s commercial reactor sites.”
Levin and Congressman Rodney Davis (R-Ill.) are part of the bipartisan group known as the Spent Nuclear Fuel Solutions Caucus. The caucus is expected to hold hearings related to spent nuclear fuel across the country.
Levin would like the waste sent to a still to be determined interim or permanent site based on geological concerns, along with acceptance from any community accepting it.
“Move waste from those sites that have the highest environmental risk and in particular highest seismic risk. Things like earthquakes as well as the highest population density,” Levin said.
