Diablo Canyon’s nuclear power plant leaves radioactive trash for a long time

Nuclear plant closes, but it will not go away, Ventura County Star, 22 June 16, The announcement Tuesday of plans to close the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant in 2025 was a historic moment in California.

It means the end of nuclear power generation in the state. The announcement by owners Pacific Gas & Electric was cheered by thousands who have fought since long before the plant went online in 1985 to end nuclear power production at the coastal facility at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County.

PG&E made the decision based, as best we can tell, for economic rather than environmental reasons. Although the majority of Americans now oppose the use of nuclear energy to provide electricity, the utility realized that there probably were going to be cheaper ways to provide power in the future than Diablo Canyon…….

there is one thing that will be left behind. They are the spent fuel rods, the most controversial, the most dangerous and the most difficult parts of a nuclear generating station.

At Diablo Canyon, the spent fuel rods are cooled in a special concrete pool for about five years. Then the rods are put in a helium-filled canister and set inside a 20-foot-tall concrete-filled steel storage cast that is cooled by natural air convection. The casks are bolted to a seven-and-one-half-foot thick concrete pad.

All of this is on the Diablo Canyon property, a short hike from the picturesque Avila Bay.

And there they will stay. The final responsibility for disposing of this high-level nuclear waste rests with the U.S. Department of Energy. And currently the federal government has no approved plan to dispose of any high-level nuclear fuel waste from any nuclear plant in the United States.

The nuclear rods are highly radioactive, enough to kill anyone exposed to them or contaminate local soil or groundwater, and will be in that state for thousands of years.

So until the federal government figures out how to safely get rid of our collective high-level nuclear waste — if it ever does — there will be a piece of Diablo Canyon plant, the most dangerous piece, creating minimal but potential risk for generations. http://www.vcstar.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-nuclear-plant-closes-but-it-will-not-go-away-35e17170-2354-07d3-e053-0100007fa1df-384027791.html

June 24, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | general

1 Comment »

Thanks for posting this. Most are gloating like this shutdown is tomorrow. A lot can happen in 8 or 9 years. I predict that all reactors or almost all will be shutdown by then whether relicensed or not. They will be shutdown either due to economics or another disaster that no one can ignore, IMO. The waste lives on. And, the waste will have to stay in California itself to cool for an even longer period.

I was looking for something talking about if 2024 is soon enough? Who knows when the next earthquake will strike. That seems to fall under the no one know the hour, not even the son (Jesus). 2024 and 25 are a long way away.

I wonder if they aren’t do this to evade the seismic evaluation or upgrade due for 2017? Will they have to do this since they aren’t extending the license? No one is answering this that I’ve found.

Of course, east and west coast environmentalists have been gloating over the west Texas waste dump too, as though sticking a bunch of flimsy spent fuel casks outside with not even a building to cover them, or burial of waste there, is a real solution.

Comment by miningawareness | June 26, 2016 | Reply