North Carolina, which relies on nuclear power for nearly half its electricity, is home to some of the nation's highest concentrations of radioactive waste taken from nuclear plants and kept in pools to prevent overheating.

This state's accumulated nuclear waste ranks fourth in the nation by volume, according to a report issued today by the Institute for Policy Studies, a left-leaning advocacy group in Washington, D.C.

The waste has been stored for decades at Progress Energy's Shearon Harris nuclear plant in southwestern Wake County, Brunswick plant near Wilmington and Duke Energy's McGuire plant near Charlotte.

Shearon Harris, less than 25 miles from Raleigh, stores overflow waste from the company's Brunswick plant and H.B. Robinson plant in South Carolina. The Harris plant ranks 22nd nationwide for total nuclear waste.