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PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Nuclear power’s catch: waste – Wire – News – Opinions – Belleville News Democrat

Nuclear power’s catch: waste
bnd.com Philadelphia Inquirer McClatchy-Tribune News Service 7 Oct 08
America’s realization that it must kick its expensive foreign-oil habit has energized the previously moribund nuclear power industry, which is proudly selling itself as the cheaper, cleaner alternative……………………….there has been little progress on solving the overarching problem of where to put radioactive waste – the lethal leftovers that can remain dangerous to health and life for centuries.

Six years ago, Congress approved a plan to transport waste from nuclear plants to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. But it was only four months ago that the Department of Energy submitted a waste repository application to the NRC. If approved, the first waste shipment isn’t expected to be sent to Yucca before 2020.

Meanwhile, the 64,000 tons of spent fuel now being stored on-site at nuclear power plants in 33 states will continue to grow.

But America’s nuclear-waste problem is much more pervasive than that. It involves not just what the nation’s existing power plants produce, but also the low-level radioactive material found in hospitals, universities and in other industries.

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Nuclear power’s catch: waste – Wire – News – Opinions – Belleville News Democrat

Tags: nuuclear, nuclearwaste, nuclear costs

October 9, 2008 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | wastes