"US spent-fuel storage sites are packed"

[doodle]

The nuclear crisis in Japan has laid bare an ever-growing problem for the United States — the enormous amounts of still-hot radioactive waste accumulating at commercial nuclear reactors in more than 30 states.

The U.S. has 71,862 tons of the waste, according to state-by-state numbers obtained by The Associated Press. But the nation has no place to permanently store the material, which stays dangerous for tens of thousands of years.

Plans to store nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain have been abandoned, but even if a facility had been built there, America already has more waste than it could have handled.

Three-quarters of the waste sits in water-filled cooling pools like those at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Japan, outside the thick concrete-and-steel barriers meant to guard against a radioactive release from a nuclear reactor.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110323/ap_on_bi_ge/us_japan_quake_us_spent_fuel

[squarepusher]

launch it into space

[doodle]

That could cause blowback from space.

[kahless]

Vermont Yankee has a plant with the same design as Fukishima. Despite public outcry, the corrupt NRC yesterday quietly relicensed them anyway. That plant houses 640 tons of spent fuel in an unprotected fuel pool with no containment vessel. This compared with the 80 tons in Fukishima.

You will never hear this on Foxnews, the MSM or the shills that post here that parrot NRC and corporate nuclear talking points.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Plans to store nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain have been abandoned, but even if a facility had been built there, America already has more waste than it could have handled.

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to abandon the Yucca Mountain project. [9]After his election, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Obama he did not have the ability to do so.[10] On April 23, 2009, Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and eight other senators introduced legislation to provide "rebates" from a $30 billion federally managed fund into which nuclear power plants had been paying, so as to refund all collected funds if the project was in fact cancelled by Congress.[11]

Oh and the article quoted is wrong - 5 miles of it did get built.

-t

[MRK]

I think the Fukushima crises turned on some lightbulbs in the head of terrorists. I wonder how many homemade RPGs it would take to expose those rods. I mean if an earthquake could do it, perhaps a few holes punched through a wall would do the same thing. I really hope those running the plants think about these things in their security strategies.

[kahless]

During his 2008 presidential campaign, Barack Obama promised to abandon the Yucca Mountain project. [9]After his election, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission told Obama he did not have the ability to do so.[10] On April 23, 2009, Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and eight other senators introduced legislation to provide "rebates" from a $30 billion federally managed fund into which nuclear power plants had been paying, so as to refund all collected funds if the project was in fact cancelled by Congress.[11]

Oh and the article quoted is wrong - 5 miles of it did get built.

-t

When the energy companies stop paying into the fund the taxpayers are left footing the bill for storage of this waste. So not only are the taxpayers already paying to have these plants built, we are forever left paying to maintain the storage of the spent fuel. Just another reason why liberty loving folks should be against nuclear power. I do not give a shit what businesses do as long as it does not effect me nor may family for generations to come having to be tax slaves to pay to maintain their bullshit.

[tangent4ronpaul]

When the energy companies stop paying into the fund the taxpayers are left footing the bill for storage of this waste. So not only are the taxpayers already paying to have these plants built, we are forever left paying to maintain the storage of the spent fuel. Just another reason why liberty loving folks should be against nuclear power. I do not give a shit what businesses do as long as it does not effect me nor may family for generations to come having to be tax slaves to pay to maintain their bullshit.

I don't think you've thought this through. Many of not most taxpayers are customers of energy from reactors. Therefore, they will be paying for it anyway. Granted, this way if your electricity is generated from coal or something else, and the power company you use doesn't have any nuke plants, you will not be paying for it. I guess that lets you vote with your feet, but who really decides where to live based on how their energy is generated?

-t

[Fox McCloud]

I think the Fukushima crises turned on some lightbulbs in the head of terrorists. I wonder how many homemade RPGs it would take to expose those rods. I mean if an earthquake could do it, perhaps a few holes punched through a wall would do the same thing. I really hope those running the plants think about these things in their security strategies.

the earthquake didn't do a darn thing to the plants; the tsunami did.

[AFPVet]

launch it into space

This was actually my idea years ago... the problem is the risks of launching radioactive material into deep space... what if something throws it back—or the rocket malfunctions :eek:

[kahless]

the earthquake didn't do a darn thing to the plants; the tsunami did.

The Tsumami washed out the backup systems however the earthquake damages the spent fuel pools. The nuclear industry propaganda is too focus the public on the reactor containment and not the spent fuel pools which are more prone to earthquakes. A consistent theme among US plant operators are damaged leaking pools. An earthquake or an RPG could spell disaster.

[ronpaulhawaii]

I think the Fukushima crises turned on some lightbulbs in the head of terrorists. I wonder how many homemade RPGs it would take to expose those rods. I mean if an earthquake could do it, perhaps a few holes punched through a wall would do the same thing. I really hope those running the plants think about these things in their security strategies.

I think it would take a lot more than some RPGs to dent these pools. Something like the gantry structure falling might do it though...,

#2 had a suspected explosion in the torus, which could have cracked the pool above...

While I support advancing nuclear energy production, one of the ways of advancing it will be using this disaster to learn what we can to minimize risk. I like seeing the industry stopped in its tracks for re-evaluation, and see the culture of corruption we fight against here as a grave threat in domestic nuclear matters...

[doodle]

Vermont Yankee has a plant with the same design as Fukishima. Despite public outcry, the corrupt NRC yesterday quietly relicensed them anyway. That plant houses 640 tons of spent fuel in an unprotected fuel pool with no containment vessel. This compared with the 80 tons in Fukishima.

You will never hear this on Foxnews, the MSM or the shills that post here that parrot NRC and corporate nuclear talking points.

Big gummit or big corporations managing these plants still leaves huge potential risks.

[HOLLYWOOD]

Site storage will continue until something is done about long term storage and new technologies of reprocessing spent fuel.

The country's nuclear garbage dump is Yucca Mountain, NV

http://www.newsreview.com/reno/content?oid=1943955

Nuclear Nevada?

This article was published on 03.24.11 (http://www.newsreview.com/reno/2011-03-24/archive).

http://www.newsreview.com/imager/nuclear_nevada/b/original/1943955/2bc7/greenspace-1.jpg
A local group encouraged members of the government and public last week to embrace the idea of making Yucca Mountain a short-term—no more than 120 years—storage facility for spent nuclear fuel rods.
“Our plan is to have Nevada become a leader in the world in the area of storing and reprocessing nuclear assets,” said the group Nevadans 4 Carbon-Free Energy (N4CFE) on its website.
Though the Obama administration has voiced support for nuclear power development, the current budget includes no funding for Yucca Mountain as a long-term storage site, and Rep. Dean Heller and Sen. Harry Reid have both called the project dead.

President Obama and Energy Secretary Steven Chu tried to halt the Yucca project in 2009, but were sued by a handful of states. Chu has said if they lose that lawsuit, the administration may be forced to look at Yucca as a storage site again.
Now, N4CFE says Yucca deserves a second look as an “Energy Park” that would use the infrastructure at Yucca Mountain to create carbon-free energy, jobs for Nevadans and an Alaska-like permanent trust fund that would pay annual dividends to Nevada families. At least that’s the idea posed at the March 18 event at the Ramada Inn.
In a press release for the event, the group stated, “The Japanese earthquake/tsunami only makes this project more valuable and urgent!”

N4CFE said the concept includes a research center tied to the University of Nevada in Reno and Las Vegas, one or more power plants, would “allow for a balanced power portfolio” and would “position Nevada as a Net Energy Exporter to surrounding states.” The group claims the park could generate over $4 billion a year in revenues and create more than 10,000 jobs.

[VIDEODROME]

All this to make steam

[doodle]

Bit off topic but could it be things are out of our hands?

Rev. Franklin Graham: Japan Quake May Be Beginning of Second Coming

http://www.newsmax.com/video/viewid/069d55aa-7287-444e-a494-06f8d3a22bd2

It's a radical pastor on a neocon site but what if he is right.

[JoshLowry]

This was actually my idea years ago... the problem is the risks of launching radioactive material into deep space... what if something throws it back—or the rocket malfunctions :eek:

I think space is the best bet.

A rocket exploding full of radioactive rods would be a hell of a disaster.

I also recall bill gates talking about a way to use the spent fuel that is radioactive in a ted talk.

[doodle]

Site storage will continue until something is done about long term storage and new technologies of reprocessing spent fuel.



Something may get done now as political will seems to be shifting after recent possible "second coming" manifestations in Japan.

Good info.

[tangent4ronpaul]

I think space is the best bet.

A rocket exploding full of radioactive rods would be a hell of a disaster.

I also recall bill gates talking about a way to use the spent fuel that is radioactive in a ted talk.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ee/Space_elevator_structural_diagram.svg/300px-Space_elevator_structural_diagram.svg.png

[Matt Collins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD40J45zjIM&feature=uploademail

[tangent4ronpaul]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD40J45zjIM&feature=uploademail

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[doodle]

$14.95??

[madengr]

Surprised no one has mentioned reprocessing. The French don't have a problem with nuclear waste.

[doodle]

Nothing wrong with learning something from the French when all other options fail. Radiation was invented discovered by a French Madame afterall, they must know a thing or two about it.

[kahless]

Surprised no one has mentioned reprocessing. The French don't have a problem with nuclear waste.

If France's economy collapses and the government dissolves it will be a problem. If a new technology is invented that is cheaper than nuclear the taxpayers will be left for generations to come to maintain the waste sites. This technology you can never walk away from and requires perpetual servitude to government.

[tangent4ronpaul]

Surprised no one has mentioned reprocessing. The French don't have a problem with nuclear waste.

Reprocessing apparently produces plutonium and there was some political decision about limiting the amount of that stuff around.

[libertybrewcity]

Great oped on reprocessing and nuclear waste.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11054/1127166-109.stm

[madengr]

Reprocessing apparently produces plutonium and there was some political decision about limiting the amount of that stuff around.

Exactly. It has nothing to do with physics, rather politics.

[doodle]

As nuclear waste sits idle, federal payouts to Exelon mount
Government has paid out tens of millions of dollars after not living up to promise to store spent fuel
March 30, 2011|By Julie Wernau, Tribune reporter

The federal government has paid Exelon a total of $460 million to reimburse the company for the onsite storage of nuclear waste at its Dresden Nuclear Power Station, above, and other nuclear facilities.

Nuclear plant operators — led by Chicago-based Exelon Corp. — have been successfully suing the federal government to recoup costs associated with removing and babysitting spent fuel the government promised would be taken off their hands 13 years ago.


http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-03-30/business/ct-biz-0331-nuclear-fees-20110330_1_dry-casks-nuclear-fuel-nuclear-plants




Great oped on reprocessing and nuclear waste.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11054/1127166-109.stm

That was good read.

[doodle]

Exactly. It has nothing to do with physics, rather politics.

Politics trumpets Physics.

[jmdrake]

I also recall bill gates talking about a way to use the spent fuel that is radioactive in a ted talk.

Bill Gates and Toshiba are working on a depleted uranium reactor.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2010/03/24/Bill-Gates-Toshiba-talk-nuclear-power/UPI-23561269455687/

Which begs the question if depleted uranium is still radioactive enough to power a reactor, then why are we using it as a weapon of war in civilian areas?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg2NHfoC2pc

[doodle]

If claims made in this video are factual, this is troubling news.

[doodle]

WSJ tackles the thorny quesion:

What should the U.S. do with spent nuclear fuel?

Stored nuclear waste contributed to the post-quake nuclear crisis in Japan. Under a 2002 U.S. law, Nevada's Yucca Mountain is the designated repository site for high-level radioactive waste. But the construction and opening of the repository has stalled amid political and legal fights. The waste has mostly stayed at the dozens of commercial nuclear reactors where it was generated. What needs to happen for safer, long-term storage of spent fuel in the U.S.?

(See more polls, discussions and hot topics.)

*
Discuss:
There are 139 comments

http://online.wsj.com/community/groups/question-day-229/topics/should-us-do-spent-nuclear?commentid=2303852

[timebomb101]

launch it into space

Been sayin this for years. Send it to the sun, it will burn up long before it gets there.

[LibertyRevolution]

I know, lets dump our spent fuel into the ocean off Japan.
They don't seem to mind flooding the ocean with nuclear waste...

[Warrior_of_Freedom]

We can make the moon glow in the dark!

[doodle]

Been sayin this for years. Send it to the sun, it will burn up long before it gets there.

Isn't that extremely risky if a mistake or accident happened during transport? Such accidents are very uncommon but what would be the impact on planet earth if rocket carrying it malfunctioned like this?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KApLcKQ3Pu0

[doodle]

Politico article by Rep Shimkus proposes a solution:


U.S. needs nuclear storage site

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/53203.html

[doodle]

May 03, 2011

Yucca Mountain Will Not Lessen Risks of Spent Nuclear Fuel

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110503005650/en/Yucca-Mountain-Lessen-Risks-Spent-Nuclear-Fuel

Hopefully lessons from Japan are being learnt.

[Chester Copperpot]

What we need is to find a use for all this nuclear waste so we can use it for something else... It can be done.

[doodle]

That would be a great innovation especially if it does not produce any more radioactive waste product.

[SkarnkaiLW]

There are many conceptual ideas on how to more efficiently use nuclear power out there. I was an ELT for the Navy, so I know a bit about this. Sadly, the Cold War basically directed nuclear power development towards making fissile material for bombs, and once the technology was set it is very hard to change things, especially due to the NRC/AEC/DOE and so-on. One that may be of interest to RPFs are LFTR (Liquid Flouride THorium reactors).

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/2009/12/01/how-a-liquid-fluoride-thorium-reactor-lftr-works/

Also fusion of course. I am following this one, but I am still a bit hesistant to endorse at this time, as it is still in the physics phase, basically.

http://focusfusion.org/

[archangel689]

launch it into space


Could launch dry casks. I think that fuel recently taken from reactors would not be feasible as it would have to be kept cool. I wouldnt try such a thing with anything but dry casks. You could use the human rated launch escape system to keep the casks from getting vaporized in the likelyhood of a malfunction.

spacex's proposed falcon heavy (which isn't even built yet) will "only" launch 53 metric tons to LEO.... let alone at the sun, it will be the largest US rocket ever made aside from the Saturn V

You need a reusable, extremely reliable Saturn V class rocket (moon rocket) to even think about doing this.

71,862 tons of spent fuel > 53mt to LEO on a rocket that isn't even built yet.

If you are having daily launches with reusable rockets I could see this happen in the next 50 years...but launching a mars colony might actually be easier because there is less stuff to launch to do it lol!

[archangel689]

Space elevator not feasible with current tech, we need super strong materials we dont have yet. Best bet is reusable LOX / RP1 spacex rockets

[doodle]

Space elevator not feasible with current tech, we need super strong materials we dont have yet. Best bet is reusable LOX / RP1 spacex rockets

This.


Isn't that extremely risky if a mistake or accident happened during transport? Such accidents are very uncommon but what would be the impact on planet earth if rocket carrying it malfunctioned like this?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KApLcKQ3Pu0

[libertybrewcity]

they just need to legalize recycling. You can get tons more energy out of all the "waste" that is produced. France does it. Jimmy Carter outlawed it during his presidency.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reprocessing

[showpan]

Yucca isn't dead. I live in Nye county and just watched another local hearing which also allowed public comment. Harry Reid is the main reason that Yucca has not been built and the public knows this. There are many supporters here, including me, and I wouldn't count it out just yet. Hopefully Harry will be gone soon.

[doodle]

they just need to legalize recycling. You can get tons more energy out of all the "waste" that is produced. France does it. Jimmy Carter outlawed it during his presidency.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reprocessing

I read the reasononing behind Carter's decision was fear of proliferation, those reasons should still be valid today though.

[kahless]

Yucca isn't dead. I live in Nye county and just watched another local hearing which also allowed public comment. Harry Reid is the main reason that Yucca has not been built and the public knows this. There are many supporters here, including me, and I wouldn't count it out just yet. Hopefully Harry will be gone soon.

I am curious of why do you want it in your back yard? Reduced property taxes? What is Nye county getting out of it?

Who is going to pay to maintain it when the dollar-government collapses?

[doodle]

Obama’s Nuclear-Waste Commission Weighs Temporary Storage Site Alternative

By Kim Chipman - May 13, 2011 12:36 PM ET

The U.S. should set up one or more sites to store nuclear waste until the government decides whether to recycle the spent fuel or move it to a permanent location, members of an Obama administration panel said.

A subcommittee of the Energy Department’s Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future suggested the option during a meeting today of the full commission in Washington. A draft report on nuclear waste disposal is due July 29.

President Barack Obama called for the commission’s formation last year after rejecting plans for a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Demands to move used fuel from U.S. power plants have increased since radioactivity was released from storage pools at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant in Japan after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami.



http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-13/obama-s-nuclear-waste-commission-weighs-temporary-storage-site-alternative.html

[doodle]

Spent Nuclear Fuel Inspections Inconsistent: NRC Auditor
May. 21

There is no training program for inspectors of American spent nuclear fuel storage facilities, and the frequency of inspections varies from one to six years, “potentially increasing the risk to public health and safety,” according to an audit report by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Office of the Inspector General.

http://blogs.forbes.com/jeffmcmahon/2011/05/21/spent-nuclear-fuel-inspectors-inspections-inconsistent-auditor/


Yucca isn't dead. I live in Nye county and just watched another local hearing which also allowed public comment. Harry Reid is the main reason that Yucca has not been built and the public knows this. There are many supporters here, including me, and I wouldn't count it out just yet. Hopefully Harry will be gone soon.

Interesting, most people would not want it near their home towns.

[doodle]

Great oped on reprocessing and nuclear waste.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11054/1127166-109.stm

Interesting ideas there for reprocessing for electricity. But following polls maybe pre 3/11 though.


Polls show that Americans support an expansion of nuclear power, and for good reason -- it is the single most important source of electricity that does not contribute to global warming or to air pollution. More nuclear plants are needed to provide electricity for economic growth, while avoiding the emission of greenhouse gases and reducing our nation's dependence on Middle East oil.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11054/1127166-109.stm#ixzz1NJ5LLWqt

[Bodhi]

This was actually my idea years ago... the problem is the risks of launching radioactive material into deep space... what if something throws it back—or the rocket malfunctions :eek:

Yeah it was discussed decades ago, and they reasons you mentioned is "why" they don't do it.

[doodle]

This was actually my idea years ago... the problem is the risks of launching radioactive material into deep space... what if something throws it back—or the rocket malfunctions :eek:

That's a no go.


Isn't that extremely risky if a mistake or accident happened during transport? Such accidents are very uncommon but what would be the impact on planet earth if rocket carrying it malfunctioned like this?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KApLcKQ3Pu0

[doodle]

Yeah it was discussed decades ago, and they reasons you mentioned is "why" they don't do it.

Yep.

[doodle]

A liberal pov on this:


America's Nuclear Spent-Fuel Time Bombs
06/ 6/11 12:49 PM ET

link (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-alvarez/americas-nuclear-spentfue_b_871718.html)