If we decided to stop use of nuclear power plants - what would we (the US) do next? [View All]

We'd have all those sites with the unspent fuel rods, spent fuel rods too hot to put into dry storage, and fuel rods in dry storage. We have no site prepared or even selected for long term storage of the dry stored fuel rods. So even if we turned off the nuclear power plants, we still have a long term radioactive storage problem.

I can't see giving up the investment in the current plants. The money made selling the power produced while the fuel rods currently in place can help offset the management of the spent rods for a while. Even if we stopped production of fuel rods, I suspect there are sufficient for power production for a number of years. We might as well use what we have, even if the plants are a risk - because they will be a risk whether they are in production or not.

But here is the long term problem - once the usable fuel rods are used up, what do we do with those facilities? We know damn well that the companies running them will duck out on their obligations to maintain them as soon as they are no longer an asset. So who is going to monitor the materials and make sure they are secure? Who is going to make sure the spent rods are kept properly cooled until they can be put into dry storage? Where will we store those containers? Who will guard them and make sure the still radioactive materials are kept secure?

Short term saying "SHUT THEM OFF!" sounds good, but it is not realistic. We as a country need to look at the long range view - we have to figure out what will happen to all those sites and the spent materials when they are no longer usable for power production.