In 1942,, just below the football stadium at the University of Chicago, scientists were racing to figure out the feasibility of a controlled nuclear reaction. At that moment, it was all about WWII.

But within a decade, the world’s interest in nuclear energy was not just about war power— it was about power. In 1958 the US began generating electricity from nuclear power . And today there are nuclear power plants in more than half of American states. The US Department of Energy touts nuclear energy as “cleaner and greener” pointing to its zero emissions and smaller land footprint. But nuclear power generation does produce hazardous waste products… and that waste has to go somewhere. And finding somewhere for it to go is not just a logistical issue, it’s a political one.

Today, the US remains one of the largest producers and users of Nuclear energy, which means that it we are one of the largest producers of nuclear waste materials. Also on the list is our neighbor to the North– Canada. And the Canadians are proposing a waste storage solution that is not going over well. MHP had a chat about the dilemma with Joseph Gedeon, a reporter at Politico and former producer here on The Takeaway.