The Morris Operation in
Grundy County,
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
, is the location of the only permanent (the rest are temporary) ''de facto'' high-level
radioactive waste
Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material. Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapon ...
storage site in the United States and holds 772 tons of
spent nuclear fuel
Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant). It is no longer useful in sustaining a nuclear reaction in an ordinary thermal reactor and ...
. It is owned by
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) is a provider of advanced reactors and nuclear services. It is headquartered in Wilmington, North Carolina, United States. Established in June 2007, GEH is a nuclear alliance created by General Electric and Hitach ...
and located near the city of
Morris
Morris may refer to:
Places
Australia
*St Morris, South Australia, place in South Australia
Canada
* Morris Township, Ontario, now part of the municipality of Morris-Turnberry
* Rural Municipality of Morris, Manitoba
** Morris, Manitob ...
. The site is located immediately southwest of
Dresden Generating Station
Dresden Generating Station (also known as Dresden Nuclear Power Plant or Dresden Nuclear Power Station) is the first privately financed nuclear power plant built in the United States. Dresden 1 was activated in 1960 and retired in 1978. Operatin ...
. Spent
nuclear fuel assemblies are stored at this away-from-reactor, Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) in a
spent fuel storage pool.
[Congressional Research Service]
"Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Locations and Inventory"
''Anthony Andrews'', December 21, 2004 The storage basins at the Morris Operation store spent high-level radioactive waste from
Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant
Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant (CY) was a nuclear power plant located in Haddam Neck, Connecticut. The power plant is on the Connecticut River near the Haddam Neck swing bridge. The plant was commissioned in 1968, ceased electricity prod ...
,
Cooper Nuclear Station
Cooper Nuclear Station (CNS) is a boiling water reactor (BWR) type nuclear power plant located on a site near Brownville, Nebraska between Missouri River mile markers 532.9 and 532.5, on Nebraska's border with Missouri. It is the largest si ...
,
Dresden Generating Station
Dresden Generating Station (also known as Dresden Nuclear Power Plant or Dresden Nuclear Power Station) is the first privately financed nuclear power plant built in the United States. Dresden 1 was activated in 1960 and retired in 1978. Operatin ...
,
Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant
The Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant is a nuclear power plant located in Monticello, Minnesota, along the Mississippi River. The site, which began operating in 1971, has a single nuclear reactor (boiling water reactor) of the General Elec ...
, and
San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station
The San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) is a permanently closed nuclear power plant located south of San Clemente, California, on the Pacific coast, in Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region IV. The plant was shut down in 2013 after re ...
.
The newest fuel currently in storage has been at the site since 1989, and the basins are essentially full. No new fuel will be received and storage is limited to the current inventory.
References
Buildings and structures in Grundy County, Illinois
Energy infrastructure in Illinois
Nuclear fuel infrastructure in the United States
Radioactive waste repositories in the United States
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