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	Currently, every nuclear reactor site in the United States stores spent nuclear fuel in pools of water.

Currently, spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste are stored in temporary facilities at some 125 sites in 39 states. These storage sites are located in a mixture of cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Most are located near large bodies of water.

In the United States today, more than 161 million people reside within 75 miles of temporarily stored nuclear waste.

View waste locations by state

Spent Fuel Pools

After three to four years in a reactor, spent nuclear fuel is moved to a storage pool of water at the reactor site. At this point, the spent fuel is not only highly radioactive, but also extremely hot in temperature. Besides helping to cool the fuel, the water protects workers and the public from radiation.

Currently, spent fuel is stored in pools at every nuclear reactor site in the United States. By 2017, the best-achievable opening date for a repository, more than 70 nuclear power plants will have no room left in their spent fuel pools.

	Some sites supplement their fuel storage capacity with aboveground dry storage facilities that are made of lead, steel, and concrete.

Since 1986, more than a dozen U.S. nuclear power plants have supplemented their storage capacity by building aboveground, dry storage facilities at their plant sites. These facilities put the spent nuclear fuel in heavy containers made of steel, concrete, and lead; which together effectively shield radiation. They place the containers either upright on thick concrete pads or store them horizontally in concrete bunkers.

Many state and local officials are concerned that unless a permanent repository becomes available, the on-site dry storage facilities will become de facto repositories themselves.