Radioactive leaks, beyond regulatory limits, from a geologically unsafe site could expose humans to dangerous doses of radiation for centuries. While strongly opposed to the on-site storage option, North Carolina utilities have already begun to store waste since last year when South Carolina, claiming that North Carolina was not acting in good faith in its effort to open a dump, pulled out of the Southeast Compact and banned N.C. waste from Barnwell. While exact on-site storage capacities are unknown, it is believed that all three N.C. power plants have enough space to handle many years of LLRW storage, possibly up to the point of decommissioning. Duke Power spokesman Richard Cuercher said his company is already storing LLRW at its McGuire Nuclear Station in Mecklenburg County. Regarding liability, Cuercher said the 1980 LLRW Policy Act gave responsibility for waste disposal to the states.
Retrievable storage has another benefit.
As time passes some radioactive waste, with short half-lives, will decontaminate naturally. Once retrieved, the decontaminated waste can be disposed of as conventional trash, freeing up space in LLRW storage sites. While not opposed to a regional Compact plan, Don Willhoit, who oversees LLRW disposal for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, supports the idea of retrievable storage as opposed to permanent disposal. Future technological advances in LLRW disposal or decontamination procedures could result in overall volume reduction. However, newer technologies could be applied to old waste only if the waste is retrievable.