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America, meet NuCorp, a mythical answer to nuclear waste woes

January 27, 2026

How to finally end America’s absurd paralysis around nuclear waste: Take the job away from the federal government and give it to private industry!

Allison Macfarlane, courtesy George Washington University

This thunderclap — so obvious, yet so elusive — comes in a new bipartisan plan penned by an esteemed group of nuclear experts, including Allison Macfarlane, erstwhile chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (and member of the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, now a professor at the University of British Columbia).

America, meet NuCorp.

“The most important element to make progress on nuclear waste disposal in the U.S. is the establishment of a trusted, capable, properly-funded implementing organization, or implementer, that can be successful,” said the study, issued Jan. 15.

“(W)e recommend that the implementer for our country be a Nuclear Corporation, or NuCorp, a nuclear reactor owner-led corporation, either an independent public benefit corporation or a non-profit corporation. Under both models, the company is obligated to work towards a public benefit, which in this case is final nuclear waste disposal. NuCorp would be required by new legislation and established by reactor owners. NuCorp would be federally chartered with a governing Board of Directors. “

Why yank the task from the federal government’s Department of Energy and give it to the companies that run nuclear plants, you ask?

“We looked at what has worked elsewhere, including Finland and Sweden, which are both constructing deep repositories for their nuclear waste, having already settled on a site for the facility,” said Macfarlane in a prepared statement. “We realized that the nuclear reactor owners are the real experts on managing nuclear waste because they already do it, and they will be best at aligning efficiencies and doing a safe and cost-effective job.”

Which is a nice way of saying that the federal government really stinks at this task.

Reversing failure

The Department of Energy has dithered for a half-century, amassed more than $50 billion from ratepayers for permanent disposal, and accomplished virtually nothing. (Well, it has managed to promise to take possession of commercial waste from utilities by, um, 1998 — and pay out $12 billion to them for failing to do so. It’ll cost taxpayers another $40 billion or before we figure this out, but who’s counting?)

This federal failure has led to highly radioactive nuclear waste piling up at reactors all across America — including 3.6 million pounds of the stuff at the shuttered San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station.

“While we strongly support a wholly nuclear reactor-owner-led corporation, we also believe that the Swiss model of a corporation jointly owned by the reactor owners and the federal government could also be successful in the US,” they said, rather optimistically. “In such a model, the federal government would have a seat on the Board of Directors, giving it a stake in the process and outcomes and recognizing its significant nuclear waste disposal needs.”

Simulated nuclear fuel pellets like the ones stored inside canisters at San Onofre's dry fuel storage facility. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) — Simulated nuclear fuel pellets like the ones stored inside canisters at San Onofre’s dry fuel storage facility. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)

NuCorp, which has a nice ring to it really, would assume responsibility for the management, transportation, possible short-term storage and permanent disposal of America’s commercial waste.

It would also be authorized to contract with the new generation of light reactors that are poised to come online, ushering in a new nuclear age.

It would be charged with overseeing a collaborative process to site, license, construct, operate and eventually decommission a deep geologic repository (or repositories); and to develop a “perpetual care fund” to pay for post-closure expenses. Once the repository(ies) permanently closed, monitoring and long-term security would revert to the federal government.

NuCorp would get access to existing Nuclear Waste Fund dollars (paid into by electricity customers at a rate of $0.001/kWh until 2013, when a judge ruled the government could not collect money for a service it wasn’t even close to providing), and, eventually, the power to reinstate a Nuclear Waste Fund fee. It might also contract for recycling/reprocessing of waste, something other countries do but which has been shunned here.

NuCorp would, of course, still be subject to NRC, Environmental Protection Agency et al standards. In addition to a governing board and an independent advisory board, NuCorp would be required to provide annual reports to Congress, public utility commissions and the public. Congress, through its committees, would be expected to hold hearings to monitor progress and ensure that funds are properly spent.

“The Path Forward for Nuclear Waste in the U.S.: A Bipartisan Solution to the Nuclear Waste Problem” was authored by folks from the nuclear industry, former government officials, public interest groups, academics, Native American Tribes, etc.

Reception

The industry is receiving the proposal cautiously.

“As stewards of the spent nuclear fuel stranded at San Onofre, we appreciate the attention the Path Forward report brings to the federal government’s obligations for the offsite storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel,” said Southern California Edison spokesman Jeff Monford.

“This important issue merits a national discussion. SCE customers are among those across the country who pre-paid for the disposal of spent fuel, and our customers deserve federal solutions. SCE has advocated for solutions for years, and we look forward to continued participation in a national dialogue around reasonable, secure options for clearing San Onofre of spent fuel.”

The idea of taking responsibility from the Department of Energy and giving it to an agency devoted solely to solving the waste problem is an old one, and it has broad support from experts. The difference here is divorcing it, or mostly divorcing it, from government.

Dan Stetson, chair of the volunteer San Onofre Community Engagement Panel, likes the idea. “The utilities should take the lead on solving the spent nuclear fuel challenge; they have the experience and expertise,” he said. “And, setting up an independent public benefit corporation with access to the nuclear waste fund should prevent the process ‘restarting’ with every new administration.”

David Victor, professor at UC San Diego’s School of Global Policy and Strategy and former chair of the San Onofre Community Engagement Panel, has his doubts. “Parts of this proposal make complete sense, in particular the need for a long-standing organization that is less subjected to the vagaries of budgets and priorities at the Department of Energy,” said Victor. “I’m skeptical that this can be set up as an independent organization run by the utilities but, instead, needs to be more closely connected to government.”

The ideas around long-term financing make sense to Victor, and are ideas that experts have been advocating for many years. But the report is missing a crucial point, he believes: That America needs to create strong incentives for communities to WANT to host spent nuclear fuel.

“That way the politics get lined up,” Victor said. “Frankly, it doesn’t matter whether we have an independent organization at the center of this whole process (if) we don’t have strong incentives for communities to line up. That’s what’s really been missing in this country. By contrast, Canada and Finland have created those incentives and they have been successful in creating the framework for permanent storage adjustment nuclear fuel.”

The U.S. Government Accountability Office's map of sites storing spent nuclear waste in the United States. — The U.S. Government Accountability Office’s map of sites storing spent nuclear waste in the United States.

It’s not impossible

For the last 15 years the U.S. has accomplished virtually nothing to solve the nagging question of how to permanently dispose of this waste, the report’s authors said. More than 100,000 tons of spent fuel sit in cooling pools and dry casks on American seashores, lakes and rivers. The numbers will continues to grow as old reactors burn fuel and new ones come online.

This costs American taxpayers dearly, they said (the estimate is $2 million per day), hindering nuclear energy expansion and knee-capping America’s ability to compete with nations like Russia “that can demonstrate their ability to offer full fuel management services, including waste disposal.”

It’s not impossible. Other countries — which handed off power to the nuclear industry — are doing it.

Canada was a particular inspiration. It passed a new law requiring reactor owners and Canada’s national nuclear laboratory to establish an independent non-profit corporation to implement a disposal program (Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization). Sweden and Finland created independent corporations for the task, SKB and Posiva. The Swiss model, NAGRA, is a cooperative jointly-owned by reactor owners and the federal government.

The vertical storage units at San Onofre Nuclear Power Plant on Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025 in San Diego, CA. (Nelvin C. Cepeda / The San Diego Union-Tribune)

Canada selected a repository site in 2024. Sweden selected a site in 2009 and has begun construction of a repository. Finland began excavation of its repository tunnels in 2021 and plans to entomb the first waste in the next few years. Switzerland selected a site in 2022 and is slated to make a final decision by 2031.

“We believe the new model we are proposing will have a much higher chance of success,” the report said. “Given that spent fuel will remain radioactive for millions of years, it is essential that the nation find a permanent solution to dispose of this material…. As other countries are actively demonstrating, we can do this.“

America, meet NuCorp, a mythical answer to nuclear waste woes Orange County Register

News Details

America, meet NuCorp, a mythical answer to nuclear waste woes

Reversing failure

Reception

It’s not impossible

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