For decades, the federal government has failed to properly manage and dispose of the nation's radioactive nuclear waste. As a result, the waste has remained on site at nuclear power plants across the country. The waste poses significant risks to millions of Americans' health and safety because most of it is stored in overcrowded pools.

Tomorrow, a critical hearing in the Senate could determine whether any progress is made in addressing this unacceptable, avoidable risk—and your senator needs to hear from you.

To better protect Americans, independent experts agree that radioactive waste that has cooled sufficiently should be transferred to concrete and steel dry casks. In fact, in most cases the pools contain much more radiation than the reactors. An accident or terrorist attack resulting in a rapid loss of cooling water from a pool could lead to a fire and the release of a massive quantity of highly radioactive material.

Tomorrow, the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources will hold a hearing on the Nuclear Waste Administration Act of 2013 (S. 1240), legislation intended to overhaul the country's long-term nuclear waste storage and management system. Unfortunately, the bill would do little to improve public safety in the near-term because it does not require the transfer of more of the radioactive waste from spent fuel pools into dry casks.

We need your senator, a member of the Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources, to attend the hearing and publicly champion thinning spent fuel pools and insist that the legislation include strong provisions to do so.

Send a message today asking your senator to attend the July 30 hearing and champion legislation requiring safer nuclear power waste disposal.