---
title: "Nuclear Waste Storage Containers Break Down When Exposed to Water"
description: "Researchers identified a major flaw in the U.S. government's plan to store nuclear waste: groundwater can eat away at storage containers and cause leaks."
date: "2020-02-03"
modified: "2020-02-03"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-waste-storage-exposed-water"
categories:
  - "Energy"
  - "Nuclear Fusion"
  - "Renewable Energy"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "environment"
  - "materials"
  - "nuclear waste"
  - "the digest"
---

# Nuclear Waste Storage Containers Break Down When Exposed to Water

![Researchers identified a major flaw in the U.S. government's plan to store nuclear waste: groundwater can eat away at storage containers and cause leaks.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/nuclear-waste-storage-exposed-water.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Water Damage

The U.S. government's plan for safely storing nuclear waste just hit a serious snag: Exposure to groundwater could corrode its new storage containers, spilling radioactive materials into the Earth.

The plan, as it stands, was to [trap nuclear waste](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-waste-diamond-batteries>) in glass or ceramic and bury the horrible mixture in stainless steel containers, *[Science News ](<https://www.sciencenews.org/article/containers-u-s-plans-use-nuclear-waste-storage-may-corrode>)*[reports](<https://www.sciencenews.org/article/containers-u-s-plans-use-nuclear-waste-storage-may-corrode>). But the new groundwater study potentially sends scientists back to the drawing board as they tackle the [staggering challenge](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nuclear-tomb-unlikely-survive-climate-change>) of storing hazardous materials for millennia at a time.

## Springing Leaks

To kick the tires of the waste containers, a team of engineers from a long list of universities recreated the conditions one might encounter while buried for thousands of years.

Their findings, [published last week](<https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-019-0579-x#author-information>) in the journal *Nature Materials*, showed that a groundwater-like solution caused a chain reaction that ended up eating away at the steel container.

## Imperfect Setup

It's worth noting that a lab environment is very different from an actual underground nuclear waste dump — and bombarding a piece of steel and ceramic with saltwater creates a more extreme response than the occasional groundwater seepage is expected to in the real thing, *Science News* reports.

All the same, the team of engineers hopes to develop a new lining material that could better keep groundwater out — and radioactive waste in.

**READ MORE:** [The containers the U.S. plans to use for nuclear waste storage may corrode](<https://www.sciencenews.org/article/containers-u-s-plans-use-nuclear-waste-storage-may-corrode>) \[*Science News*\]

**More on waste management:** [Japan's Radioactive Water will Go Into the Ocean or Atmosphere](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/japans-radioactive-water-ocean-atmosphere>)

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)