"Putting off hard decisions, squandering valuable time that could be used to implement solutions, leaving an inexcusable burden on future generations — it sounds like the federal budget battle. But that's not the only place where political irresponsibility has produced a growing crisis.
This one poses even more vivid dangers because it involves radioactive material — spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants. For years, the federal government planned to create a permanent repository for all such material at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. But in 2009, deferring to persistent local opposition and fulfilling a campaign promise, President Barack Obama scrapped the plan.
That left existing nuclear sites with some 65,000 metric tons of radioactive waste that they can't get rid of. Exelon's Zion plant shut down in 1998, but it still has 1,100 tons of spent fuel awaiting shipment to a permanent home"...............READ MORE
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