Nuclear Waste Bill Voids Existing Storage Licenses, Forces All Spent Fuel Back to Reactor Sites

The “Consolidated Interim Storage Facility Restriction Act of 2025” is straightforward and disruptive: it slams the door shut on private, centralized storage for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Starting the day it becomes law, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is banned from issuing any new licenses for storing this waste anywhere except at the nuclear power plant where it was generated or at a facility owned by the federal government. But here’s the kicker: the bill also immediately nullifies any existing licenses for non-federal consolidated storage facilities, essentially stopping those projects dead in their tracks.

The Immediate Impact: Back to Square One

This bill effectively forces nuclear power plant operators to keep all their waste on-site, a practice often referred to as “at-reactor storage.” For years, the industry has been looking for off-site, centralized solutions to move this highly radioactive material away from densely populated areas or aging facilities. This bill eliminates that option, forcing utilities to rely entirely on their own capacity. If a utility was planning to ship its spent fuel to a newly licensed interim storage site—a site that just lost its license—they are now stuck. This creates an immediate, unplanned operational burden for operators, who must now find room for decades of waste on their own property. Congress justifies this massive regulatory shift by stating that transporting and storing this waste poses “significant threats to public health and safety” and claims the NRC lacked the proper authority to issue those consolidated storage licenses in the first place.

Who Manages the Hot Potato Now?

This legislation shifts the entire burden of nuclear waste management onto two entities: the individual nuclear power plants and the federal government. The bill only allows for storage at the reactor site or at a “federally owned interim storage facility.” Since the federal government has famously struggled for decades to establish a permanent national repository (like the stalled Yucca Mountain project), this bill essentially creates a choke point. By eliminating private interim solutions, the federal government becomes the only potential off-site option. If the government can’t build or license a facility quickly—and history suggests it won’t—then every nuclear power plant in the country becomes a long-term, de facto storage site.

The Real-World Cost of Restriction

For communities near existing or proposed consolidated storage sites, this bill might feel like a win, as the perceived risk of transport and storage is removed. However, the costs could be significant elsewhere. If you live near an operating nuclear power plant, this bill ensures that the spent fuel—which remains radioactive for thousands of years—stays put, potentially for the plant’s entire operating life and beyond. For the nuclear industry, this restriction increases operational complexity and costs, which could eventually trickle down to consumers through higher energy prices. Furthermore, the immediate nullification of existing licenses creates regulatory chaos, making future private investment in waste solutions highly risky. This is a clear, decisive restriction that eliminates a key industry pathway for managing waste, forcing a massive, immediate pivot back to on-site storage without a clear, ready-to-go federal alternative.