Storage Sites
Sites that hold hazardous radioactive materials and/or nuclear waste produced throughout the industry. Ideally, they are specially designed for this kind of waste, but throughout history have sometimes been unregulated and/or poorly designed.
Total sites since 1942
- 68 Sites
At a glance
Nuclear waste storage sites, also called repositories, are meant to safely hold radioactive waste generated from the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons and/or energy. There are three main types of nuclear waste as classified in the United States: high-level, transuranic, and low-level.
Storage sites are typically, but not always, located in remote and geologically stable areas to minimize the risk of contamination, although waste sites sometimes exist on or near the sites where the waste was originally produced.
Why you should care
The US Department of Energy (DOE) estimates that nuclear weapons production has produced over 100 million gallons of radioactive waste, whereas the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates 90 million gallons. The difference between these numbers is emblematic of the lack of concrete data surrounding the consequences of nuclear weapons production, and the need for more resources and energy spent understanding the scale of the problem and fixing it.
The facility at Hanford, Washington, is an infamous example of the complex problem presented by nuclear waste storage. During the Cold War, the site produced plutonium needed to develop nuclear weapons, with its final reactor shutting down in 1987. Hanford is now left with an incredibly large amount of high-level waste—roughly 56 million gallons. And after more than 35 years and billions of dollars spent, the site is nowhere near being cleaned up. The waste and cleanup activities have posed exposure risks to workers and people living in and around Hanford, and have contaminated the groundwater. With no adequate or cost-effective solutions, nuclear waste has the potential to harm nearby populations, the environment, and our resources for thousands of years to come.
