Three Nuclear Power Plants Enter Uncharted, Contested Territory

More than 90 dry casks, most filled with spent nuclear fuel rods, sit under the open sky on a small bluff above the Susquehanna River at Exelon Generation Co. LLC’s Peach Bottom Atomic Energy Station in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Space is limited, so Exelon has just begun expanding the site to hold more spent fuel casks—enough room to keep adding spent fuel until the plant’s current federal license expires in 2034, Patrick Navin, Peach Bottom site vice president for Exelon, told Bloomberg Environment.

The future of Peach Bottom beyond 2034 is now in the hands of the Nuclear ...