Modern Day Plants

Nuclear power contributes to approximately 20% of the United States power production and is responsible for the majority of the US’s green energy production According to the US Energy Information Administration, there is currently 61 nuclear power plants operating in the United states and 35 of which have multiple reactors. The largest nuclear power plant is the Palo Verde power plant in Arizona which has three reactors and a peak output of nearly 4000 megawatts. Conversely, the smallest power plant is R.E. Ginna in New York which utilizes only one reactor and produces a peak of a little more than 500 megawatts.

Challenges

Perhaps the largest problem when dealing with nuclear power plants is their waste. One typical nuclear power plant generates about 22 tons of waste. When compared to the waste created by a typical coal plant, about 125,000 tons of ash and 193,000 tons of sludge, 22 tons doesn’t seem like a lot. The problem comes from finding methods and places to safely dispose of it. At the moment, all of the current nuclear waste is being held in temporary storage containers on site of the power plants while the political world fights over what to do with it. The most likely option is Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Billions of dollars has been poured into excavating this mountain with the plan of burring it. However, at this point, even if the project eventually finishes, there would not be enough room to store all of the waste. Additionally, the government is receiving strong push back from the people of Nevada who do not want a mountain filled with radioactive material.



                                            Image from CNN of Yucca Mountain

Potential Solutions

A couple other potential solutions have been research to no avail. One of the other possibilities that was researched is called reprocessing and is utilized by France, Japan, Russia, and the U.K. Reprocessing facilities enrich used nuclear rods in order to extract fresh fuel. However, this process does not quite solve the problem as it still produces radioactive waste, expect this waste is capable of being used in nuclear weapons. Politicians fear that this would make for an irresistible target for thieves. The other option that was looked into was building breeder reactors. Breeder reactors use plutonium rather than uranium in the core. When plutonium goes through fission, it creates more plutonium which is essentially creating more fuel. Therefore, ideally, a breeder reactor would become a self-sustaining energy supply. However, after a failed attempt in Japan and a high price tag, it was determined that breeder reactors are not currently feasible. This leaves nuclear power plants with an uncertain future as politicians and scientist work to find a solution to the problem.