Where Will All of Big Tech’s Nuclear Waste Go?
There’s a field in Wiscasset, Maine (Population 3,742) protected by armed guards. On the field is a chain link fence surrounding a pad of concrete. On the pad are 60 cement and steel canisters that contain 1,400 spent nuclear fuel rods, the leavings of a power plant that shut down almost 30 years ago.
The containers are full of nuclear waste. The locals don’t love it, but there’s nowhere for it to go. The issue of what to do with America’s nuclear waste is a problem that’s solved in theory but stalled in practice thanks to a decades-long political fight. The country needs more power, and faster, and tech companies such as Google, Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon all announced this year that they’re moving forward with plans to go nuclear.
That means there’s going to be more nuclear waste than ever before. Where will it go? If the current system holds, it’ll be stored near the reactors. Right now, nuclear waste is put in stainless steel containers and sealed in a concrete structure called a dry cask. Dry casks are, by all accounts, remarkably safe. If they’re undisturbed, they could remain so for centuries.
