Countries store radioactive waste differently

Here is a look at how various nations handle radioactive waste:

United States

The country with the most nuclear reactors, more than 120 spread out over 39 states, has no central system for dealing with waste. Plans for a long-term repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada have stalled for 25 years. For now waste is stored in dry casks and cooling pools at reactor sites. The U.S. government shuns waste reprocessing because of risks it could lead to nuclear weapons proliferation. A push by the Bush administration for a new reprocessing method is likely to stall pending November elections.

France

France, more dependent on atomic energy than any country, recycles most of its nuclear fuel and fuel from several other countries as well. French researchers are conducting experiments in an underground lab toward building a long-term storage facility. Meanwhile, it "vitrifies" its deadliest waste, turning it into glass to make it more stable, and stores it in shallow underground canisters.

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Russia

In Russia, home of the world's largest nuclear waste site, reprocessing is common. International environmental groups complain of poor safety records and oversight at reprocessing plants. Greenpeace has accused western European countries of secretly and illicitly shipping nuclear waste to Russia over several years.

Finland

Finland may become the first country to build a deep earth repository. The government has approved a long-term storage site, though it is not expected to be operational until after the country finishes building the world's first "third-generation" reactor, expected in 2011.

Taiwan

Taiwan, which has three plants and is building a fourth, sought to build long-term waste sites in North Korea and the Marshall Islands but was blocked by protests. Taiwan has stored 100,000 barrels of nuclear waste on a tiny island but protests from an aboriginal group are forcing it to move the waste to another site, as yet unchosen, by 2013.