By Ryan Morden
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wrvo/local-wrvo-919048.mp3
Oswego, NY – The Ginna Nuclear Power Plant near Rochester finished construction on new dry-cask storage units for containing nuclear waste. The federal government is supposed to be responsible for spent fuel, but since public officials haven't figured out a place to put it, it remains on-site at plants around the country.
The government's plan for years was to bury spent fuel beneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but the Obama administration wants to scrap that idea. Because there is no final place to put the nuclear waste, dry cask containers like these are just about the only answer.
Maria Hudson is with Constellation Energy, the company that owns the Ginna plant. She says the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the new canisters are good to go.
"We have not begun to officially move the fuel. We will be doing that third quarter of this year, so we're getting close. We haven't started it just yet," said Hudson.
The Nine Mile Point nuclear power station near Oswego, which is also owned by Constellation, is working on constructing similar storage units for use there. Those canisters are expected to be finished by summer of 2012.