# Has any country completed a long lerm storage facility for nuclear waste? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825 "2014-06-15T15:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/1 "2014-06-15T15:35:51Z")
I know the US is still working on building a long-term storage facility for nuclear waste, and saw in another thread that Germany is in a similar situation. Which makes me wonder does ANY country have a long term storage facility for nuclear waste, or is everybody still relying on short-term solutions? ---
**Author:** ![FXMastermind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fxmastermind/32/7289_2.png) [@FXMastermind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FXMastermind)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/2 "2014-06-15T16:01:17Z")
No. and No. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/3 "2014-06-15T16:05:34Z")
I often wonder about the waste water in Japan. How much radiation released into the ocean is safe once say 50% dispersement is accomplished. They are building tank after tank to hold waste water with no idea what to do with it. I can’t imagine anything good comming from this. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/4 "2014-06-15T16:33:47Z")
If the world was serious about long term use of nuclear power, they would move towards designs that produce much less radioactive waste. Such designs exist (google “traveling wave reactor”), but would require long and expensive development costs that private power companies cannot undertake, so it would require government action, which is unlikely to happen. Eventually, they could even burn our current nuclear waste. The waste they produce consists of relatively short life radioactives. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/5 "2014-06-15T16:38:00Z")
Sweden has the Forsmark site, which isn’t for depleted nuclear fuel, but other nuclear waste…irradiated equipment and parts from their nuclear plants. If you’re looking for sites to store spent nuclear fuels, no countries have final storage sites in operation yet, but the first one to do so will probably be Finland, which has a site scheduled to open in 2020. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/6 "2014-06-15T20:02:11Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Sweden has the Forsmark site, which isn’t for depleted nuclear fuel, but other nuclear waste…irradiated equipment and parts from their nuclear plants. > > If you’re looking for sites to store spent nuclear fuels, no countries have final storage sites in operation yet, but the first one to do so will probably be Finland, which has a site scheduled to open in 2020. [Here’s a very good documentary about the Finnish one](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194612/). ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/7 "2014-06-15T21:37:18Z")
> [@dstarfire](#): > > Which makes me wonder does ANY country have a long term storage facility for nuclear waste, or is everybody still relying on short-term solutions? As I recall, Cold War Russia had one. Namely : shove all nuclear waste in bog standard steel drums, load the drums on a boat, drive out to sea, throw them overboard. Then fire AKs at the drums so they’ll sink faster, although I believe that step is optional. Hey, you said long term, not long term \*and \*safe \*and \*not thoroughly illegal under international law ! ---
**Author:** ![filmstar-en](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@filmstar-en](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filmstar-en)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2014, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-any-country-completed-a-long-lerm-storage-facility-for-nuclear-waste/690825/8 "2014-06-16T01:06:48Z")
In the UK they are still trying to find a site with suitable geology. They seem to want to put it next the countries leading National Park and it is proving rather difficult to persuade the locals that this is good idea. :eek: > **[Cumbria nuclear waste dump: What were councils considering?](https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-21161367)** > > Cumbria County Council votes against continuing to consider a huge underground radioactive waste facility in the county. It is a big environmental issue that never seems to go away.