Over 60 percent of the some 15,200 tons of spent nuclear fuel in Japan could be stored in metal casks in the future, as the cooling pools that currently hold them are filling up, Kyodo News research showed Wednesday.
The survey of utility companies' plans revealed the potential volume at a time when each firm is looking at dry casks to boost storage capacity for the ever-increasing, highly radioactive byproduct of nuclear power generation.
They believe the leak-tight canisters will be safer than storing the spent fuel in pools. But keeping them in dry cask storage facilities, which do not need water or electricity to keep spent nuclear fuel cooled, will only be a temporary solution.