IAEA produces global mapping tool of used nuclear fuel

WNN, Monday, 22 June 2026

The global total of used nuclear fuel produced by nuclear power plants is about 448,000 tonnes of heavy metal, with three quarters in storage and one quarter reprocessed, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s first interactive tool showing how much used nuclear fuel the world has – and where it is stored – by country.

The agency says that 41% of used nuclear fuel is in wet storage, “mainly the pools that cool … [it] after it leaves the reactor and other centralised pools. Another 31% is in dry storage which are the casks, buildings, and modular systems used for keeping spent fuel under dry conditions”.

The figures for the interactive map – which allows people to look by country, by region and by storage type – comes from the Contracting Parties to the Joint Convention, which is “the principal international legal instrument to address the safety of spent fuel and radioactive waste management on a global scale”. It is the second edition of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Global Spent Nuclear Fuel Inventory.………………………………… You can find the IAEA’s Global Spent Nuclear Fuel Inventory here. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/iaea-produces-global-mapping%20tool-of-used-nuclear-fuel

June 25, 2026 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | wastes