nuclear-news

South Carolina to be USA’s nuclear waste dump, with Small Modular Reactors (SMRs)?

The mini-reactors – also dubbed small modular reactors or SMRs – have been hailed as the nuclear technology of the future.

 waste is the problem……  waste could be shipped into the state from other areas…. South Carolina once again could become the nuclear dumping ground for the nation.

Mini-nuclear reactors Herald Online, 1 July 12,South Carolina might benefit in many ways from being the site of the nation’s first mini-nuclear reactors. But the resulting nuclear waste is a big concern.

The U.S. Department of Energy gave the go-ahead in April for three companies to partner with the Savannah River Site in Aiken County to possibly develop the nation’s first mini-reactors there. The three companies are competing with other design companies across the nation – as well as among themselves – for a federal matching grant totaling as much as $452 million to support engineering, certification and licensing for up to two mini-reactor designs.
Winners could be anounced later this summer.

The mini-reactors – also dubbed small modular reactors or SMRs – have been hailed as the nuclear technology of the future. About the size of
a double-wide mobile home, the reactors could be used to power a small
city or remote rural areas…..
waste is the problem it still hasn’t solved. Without a federally
approved nuclear waste depository, spent fuel rods and other reactor
waste languish at nuclear plants or at other temporary storage
sites……
In the interim, South Carolina undoubtedly would be stuck storing any
waste from mini-reactors inside the state. And if the technology is
licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the mini-reactors
use spent nuclear rods from power plants as a source for fuel, then
waste could be shipped into the state from other areas.

South Carolina once again could become the nuclear dumping ground for
the nation.

The technology for the mini-reactors still is in its infancy. If South
Carolina gets the green light to develop them, the state would be the
testing ground for the rest of the nation…..
the project is not without substantial risk. Before South Carolina
fully embraces this untested technology, we need answers to questions
about possible accidents and their consequences, the potential for a
terrorist strike or theft of nuclear material – but mostly about the
waste.

Namely, where would it end up? http://www.heraldonline.com/2012/07/01/4085457/mini-nuclear-reactors.html#storylink=cpy

July 2, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Reference, technology, USA