U.S. Nuclear Power's Growing Pile: No Long-Term Solution for Spent Fuel
The United States faces a growing challenge with spent nuclear fuel. With no commercial reprocessing facility since the 1970s and efforts to build a permanent repository stagnant, the country's 79 nuclear power plants, including the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS), are left with no long-term solution for their spent fuel. Meanwhile, demand for nuclear energy is increasing, leading to a faster accumulation of spent fuel in the coming decades.
SONGS, which closed in 2013 following a small leak of radioactive steam, now stores 3.55 million pounds of irradiated fuel in temporary dry-cask storage. Nationwide, the situation is critical, with no clear path forward for managing the growing stockpile of spent fuel. A recent Goldman Sachs report highlights the increasing demand for nuclear power, with data centers alone expected to boost global power demands by 165 percent by 2030.
In Japan, attempts to recycle nuclear fuel have been plagued with setbacks and delays, leaving the country with an excess of separated plutonium. France, however, is at the forefront of nuclear fuel recycling, using reprocessed uranium and plutonium in some power plants and planning a deep geological repository for high-level nuclear waste. In the U.S., a May 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump promoted nuclear power and recycling as a potential solution for spent fuel management, but specific details and progress remain unclear.
The U.S. nuclear industry is at a crossroads, with growing support for nuclear energy and a pressing need for a permanent spent fuel management solution. Without a clear path forward, the country's nuclear power plants, including SONGS, remain in limbo, storing spent fuel in temporary facilities. As demands for nuclear power increase, so too will the urgency to address the spent fuel challenge, making it a critical issue for the industry and policymakers to tackle in the coming years.
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