We do have a permanent disposal facility built, but congress chose to forbid its operation. This is a self inflicted problem: we don't have a permanent disposal facility because we refuse to use the permanent disposal facility we built.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste...

FYI, to the ready point, as Wikipedia notes: "The DOE was to begin accepting spent fuel at the Yucca Mountain Repository by January 31, 1998 but did not do so because of a series of delays due to legal challenges, concerns over how to transport nuclear waste to the facility, and political pressures resulting in underfunding of the construction."

The anti-waste-disposal crowd in the environmental movement feels exceedingly disingenuous.

The amount of goal post moving they've engaged in over the decades makes it clear that their actual goals are to prevent any waste disposal site from being constructed, rather than specific, actionable complaints.

Which is insane, from a net-benefit perspective, as the alternative is to leave nuclear waste dispersed around the country, closer to population centers.

https://www.wipp.energy.gov/ is one, though that's for government rather than commercial waste.

It's a matter of political will at this point.

The 2012 Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future report [1] literally said that:

"Ensuring access to dedicated funding – Current federal budget rules and laws make it impossible for the nuclear waste program to have assured access to the fees being collected from nuclear utilities and ratepayers to finance the commercial share of the waste program’s expenses.

We have recommended a partial remedy that should be implemented promptly by the Administration, working with the relevant congressional committees and the Congressional Budget Office. A long-term remedy requires legislation to provide access to the Nuclear Waste Fund and fees independent of the annual appropriations process but subject to rigorous independent financial and managerial oversight."

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20120807061024/http://brc.gov/si...