Progress Energy currently uses wet storage pools and dry storage canisters to store spent nuclear fuel. The company has managed used nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste byproducts safely and efficiently for more than 30 years. To date, no permanent used fuel disposal exists because the U.S. government has not fulfilled its commitment to open and operate a permanent spent-fuel repository. Progress Energy customers have contributed more than $660 million to the high-level nuclear waste fund to support the effort to develop a permanent disposal facility.

All used nuclear fuel must be stored in pools for at least five years after it is taken out of reactors. Progress Energy has above-ground storage in use at its Robinson Plant and under construction at its Brunswick Nuclear Plant. The company believes both methods are equally safe and evaluates the safest and most economical solution for each site.

The Harris Nuclear Power Plant's wet storage pool is used to store nuclear spent fuel.	Robinson Nuclear Plant employees loaded on Aug. 11, 2005, the first canister in the plant's new $30 million dry fuel storage facility.

Transportation of spent fuel safe

Progress Energy has been safely transporting used nuclear fuel rods from its Brunswick and Robinson Plants to the Harris Plant for more than 15 years. Since dry storage was constructed at the Robinson Plant in early 2005, the only plant currently shipping fuel to Harris is the Brunswick Plant. Numerous procedures and advanced technologies are used to ensure the continued protection of public health and safety with regard to shipping spent fuel. The containers used to transport the fuel, called casks, have been extensively tested and remained intact when exposed to temperatures of up to 1,400 degrees Fahrenheit, underwater pressures for eight hours and an 80 mph collision with a concrete wall. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the U.S Department of Transportation carefully regulate all aspects of used fuel shipping. The rail cars that transport spent fuel rods do so on approved routes and do not travel in excess of 35 mph.

For more information, visit the Nuclear Energy Institute Web site.