USA: Homeless nuclear waste in Maine and beyond

By coincidence, I have three articles in the current weekly print edition of The Christian Science Monitor. The first of these -- on nuclear waste stranded on the former sites of decommissioned power plants -- posted at the Monitor's website today.

The piece features the waste stranded at the former Maine Yankee power plant in Wiscasset, where the reactor station itself was demolished years ago. As with other plants across the country, rate payers have already paid for the waste's disposal, but the federal government has reneged on its contractual duty to take possession of the spent fuel for lack of anywhere to put it. With the future of the troubled Yucca Mountain waste depository in doubt, it could be a very long time before wastes at Maine Yankee and other plants reach their final resting place.

Sources raise concerns for what this will mean for plans to begin building new nuclear plants to reduce U.S. oil dependency and greenhouse gas emissions.

Image (c) 2009 Colin Woodard