Among other things, this act proposed Yucca Mountain, Nevada as the nation's first repository site. Another plus about the Yucca Mountain site is its isolation. Hardly anyone lives near it. Utility companies are asking the Department of Energy to accept responsibility for the waste in 1998. The Department of Energy would need to store the waste in a temporary facility prior to its final burial at the repository.
Nuclear energy is an important source of electricity in the United States-it's second only to coal.
Nuclear power provides about 21 percent of this country's electricity. At the end of 1994, there were 109 nuclear power plants operating in the United States. No new plants are planned for the remaining decade. In other parts of the world, nuclear energy is a growing source of electrical power. Nuclear energy now provides about 17 percent of the world's electricity.