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Draft report from USA’s Blue Ribbon Commission on nuclear wastes

U.S. nuclear waste: where to now?, Smart Planet 5 Aug 11, By Melissa Mahony | August 1, 2011, Radioactive waste has been accumulating at sites across the United States for decades. The 75,000-metric-ton problem isn’t going away (well, not for a million years or so). And as of now, it’s not going to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain either. Tasked with finding long-term solutions to this disposal issue, the Blue Ribbon Commission released a draft report on Friday.

Critical of the government’s handing of the issue thus far, the almost 200-page report asks for a new federal organization, separate from the Department of Energy, that would deal with transporting, storing and disposing of nuclear wastes of various kinds and radioactivity levels…

. They offer a bottom-up, “consent-based” approach for locating and establishing such a site to avoid drawn-out NIMBY battles. In the meantime, consolidating wastes at shorter-term disposal and storage sites will have to do. The BRC says this would result in more flexibility with managing wastes and also allow for the removal and dry cask storage of “stranded” spent fuel at nine reactors that have shut down. About 15,000 metric tons of spent fuel is currently held in dry casks, with another 50,000 metric tons sitting in pools (right). They suggest taking the same approach to garner state and local support for these facilities…..

Each year 104 nuclear reactors generate about 20 percent of the nation’s electricity and add about 2,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel to the pile. The public comment period on the BRC report will last until the end of October. A final report is expected in January….
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/intelligent-energy/us-nuclear-waste-where-to-now/7787

August 7, 2011 - Posted by | USA, wastes

1 Comment »

  1. I read somewhere right around the time of the Gulf of Mexico debacle that once a commission is named to investigate we can count on an official sanction against true information.

    chemfood99's avatar Comment by chemfood99 | August 7, 2011 | Reply


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