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Canada’s nuclear waste problem, risks to Lake Huron

 In Canada’s 40-year nuclear power program, two million used fuel bundles have been created, enough to fill six hockey arenas. As Canada’s largest nuclear plant, about 50 per cent of that used nuclear waste is stored above ground at the Bruce plant…..

Nuclear-waste dump proposal sparks protest in cottage country, Frances Barrick, The Record  Apr 04 2012 SAUGEEN SHORES — The battles lines are drawn in Saugeen Shores over the contentious issue of whether this Lake Huron tourist community should be the site of Canada’s first underground repository for high-level nuclear waste.

“I can’t imagine why people would want to come here and vacation beside Canada’s nuclear waste dump,” Continue reading →

April 5, 2012 Posted by | Canada, wastes | Leave a comment

A very long haul to clean up Savannah River’s plutonium wastes

The amount of plutonium in the waste tanks is uncertain. Savannah River was built to make plutonium, and the material in the tanks is what was left over after the material was produced in reactors and scavenged in chemical plants. But a fair amount ended up in the waste tanks

A Very Long Road for Military Nuclear Waste By MATTHEW L. WALD, NYT, March 29, 2012  Slowly, slowly, the Energy Department is moving forward with solidifying the liquid nuclear wastes left over from cold-war weapons production. On Thursday, the department said it had closed two more of the 51 underground tanks at the Savannah River Site  in western South Carolina. The high-level waste was mixed with molten glass to keep it chemically locked up for millennia, and the lower-level material was mixed with a kind of cement that is supposed to keep it in place until the radioactivity dies down.

The department has 22 tanks at Savannah River that do not meet Environmental Protection Agency standards , mostly because they are single-wall tanks rather than double-wall. It closed two of them in 1997 but has faced numerous technical problems. Continue reading →

March 30, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Lynas rare earths company has to get Australia to agree to take back radioactive wastes

Onus is on Lynas to get nod for waste shipment’, The Malaysian Star Reports by MARTIN CARVALHO, YUEN MEIKENG, RAHIMY RAHIM and TASHNY SUKUMARAN , 29 March 12,  THE onus of obtaining permission from the authorities to ship waste from the proposed rare earth plant in Gebeng, Pahang, to Australia lies with operators Lynas Corporation, said Science, Technology and Innovations Minister Datuk Seri Dr Maximux Ongkili.

“There has been no official word from the authorities in Australia over the shipment (of the waste) and I have not received any formal communication,” he said at Parliament lobby.

Though helping facilitate Lynas’ investment in setting up the plant here, he noted there were conditions that the company must fulfil with the onus on them to obtain approval for waste shipment to Australia if the need arose. “We are not here for the purpose of just helping Lynas. We have set conditions and they must follow,” he said.

The Atomic Energy Licensing Board’s (AELB) imposed five conditions for the issuance of a temporary operating licence for the Lynas plant which includes locating a suitable site for a permanent disposal facility. “If Lynas cannot process the wastes here according to our standard or cannot find a permanent disposal site, then they have to seek a site outside this country…..

“Otherwise, I am not giving the licence as they have signed for that,” Ongkili repeatedly said…..  Ongkili said Lynas Corporation chose to have its rare earth plant in Malaysia because the cost to operate the facility here was 30% of that in Australia….. http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp file=/2012/3/28/parliament/11002216&sec=parliament

March 29, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, Malaysia, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Alas, ‘fast breeder’ reactors don’t solve the nuclear waste problem

Ultimately, however, the core problem may be that such new reactors don’t eliminate the nuclear waste that has piled up

Can Fast Reactors Speedily Solve Plutonium Problems? The U.K. is grappling with how to get rid of weapons-grade plutonium and may employ a novel reactor design to consume it , Scientific American, By David Biello  | March 21, 2012   The U.K. has nearly 100 metric tons of plutonium—dubbed “the element from hell” by some—that it doesn’t know what to do with.

The island nation does not need the potent powder to construct more nuclear weapons, and spends billions of British pounds to ensure that others don’t steal it for that purpose. The unstable element, which will remain radioactive for millennia, is the residue of ill-fated efforts to recycle used nuclear fuel. Continue reading →

March 26, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, reprocessing, UK | Leave a comment

Students alerting public to danger of nuclear waste dumping in Cumbria, UK

 the proposals … will be a ‘travesty of democracy’…..

there are claims that important scientific information is being ignored

Students fight Cumbria nuclear dump plan The Westmorland Gazette, 23 March 12, CONSULTATION over whether a nuclear waste repository should be built on Cumbria’s west coast comes to a close tomorrow with opponents making their voices heard in many imaginative ways… Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Texas likely to take in radioactive wastes from other States

Critics maintain that that Mr. Simmons’s financial might has helped him win state backing for the site. Mr. Simmons has donated more than $1 million to Gov. Rick Perry, who appoints board members to Texas agencies that oversee the waste site,

Texas Nears Approval of Multistate Nuclear-Waste Dump  WSJ, By NATHAN KOPPEL, March 23, 2012, Texas moved closer Friday to allowing low-level radioactive waste from dozens of states to be trucked in and disposed at a site in West Texas, which would become one of only four in the nation that could take low-level radioactive waste shipped from out of state.

A state agency with oversight of waste imports adopted rules Friday that help clear the way for the 1,338-acre dump near the New Mexico border, despite concerns expressed by environmentalists that such a facility may be unsafe. Continue reading →

March 24, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA in a pickle – can’t afford to bury its dead nuclear reactors

Decommissioning a reactor is a painstaking and expensive process that
involves taking down huge structures and transporting the radioactive
materials to the few sites around the country that can bury them. 

The cost is projected at $400 million to $1 billion per reactor, which in some cases is more than what it cost to build the plants in the 1960s and ’70s.

As Reactors Age, the Money to Close Them Lags NYT, By MATTHEW L. WALD March 20, 2012 WASHINGTON — The operators of 20 of the nation’s aging nuclear reactors, including some whose licenses expire soon, have not saved nearly enough money for prompt and proper dismantling. Continue reading →

March 22, 2012 Posted by | decommission reactor, Reference, USA | Leave a comment

Confusing messages about where Lynas will put its rare earths radioactive wastes

Lynas had denied reports that the Western Australian government had refused to accept the radioactive waste from the miner’s RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Malaysia.

“If the (Australian) government accepts waste, why not they (Lynas) stay in own country?” Himpunan Hijau chairman Wong Tack asked. Wong said Lynas Corp was “clearly taking advantage” of Malaysia’s
“loose environmental laws” and “non-functioning administration”.

Australia: No request from Lynas to accept waste http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/australia-no-request-from-lynas-to-accept-waste By Lisa J. Ariffin March KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — Canberra
has yet to receive any request from Lynas Corp to accept radioactive waste from the Australian miner’s controversial rare earth plant in Gebeng, Kuantan that will be ready this June.

“Australia has not received any request to import residues from the plant,” an Australian High Commission spokesman told The Malaysian Insider when contacted today. Continue reading →

March 22, 2012 Posted by | AUSTRALIA, Malaysia, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Taipower poisons island with nuclear wastes, and islanders’ minds with money

“Taipower contaminates our island with nuclear waste and it also contaminates our minds with money,”  “They are trying to make us think that we cannot live without nuclear waste.”…

a lot of Taos depend on Taipower for jobs and are afraid of losing their jobs if they tell people what they really think.

Lanyu’s residents grudgingly accept nuclear storage Taipei Times, By Loa Iok-sin 19 March 12,  The Tao Aborigines of Lanyu (蘭嶼) — also known as Orchid Island — are once again taking to the streets to voice their opposition to a nuclear storage facility on their island, calling for its immediate removal.

While it may appear that the removal of nuclear waste is the only thing the Taos want, the
real situation is much more complicated, as Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) is exerting considerable effort on the resource-scarce island to minimize opposition. Continue reading →

March 20, 2012 Posted by | secrets,lies and civil liberties, Taiwan, wastes | Leave a comment

Taxpayer cleaning up many millions of tons of uranium wastes,since company went bankrupt

Five Million Tons Of Uranium Tailing Disposed, The U.S. Department Of Energy Says They Are A Third Of The Way Done With Their Entire Project To Move All Of The Tailings To Crested Junction KJCT8.com Janelle Ericsson  MOAB, UT. — Five million tons of uranium tailings has been removed from an old waste site near the river in Moab. The U.S. Department of Energy says they are a third of the way done with their entire project to move all of the tailings to Crested Junction.
Once they reach their destination they will be put in an engineered cell that will prevent contamination to ground water for a thousand years…

. The UMTRA project was originally started in 2001 when the a corporation went bankrupt. Through legislative actions, the project was given to the Department of Energy to take responsibility of the clean up.

March 19, 2012 Posted by | Uranium, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

140 nuclear reactors now dead, but only 17 buried!

Intermediate-level waste, contrary to its name, is even more of a problem because it may require deep ground burial alongside the high-level spent fuel

In 1976, a British Royal Commission said no more nuclear power plants should be built until the waste disposal problems were resolved. Thirty-five years on, nothing much has changed.

How to dismantle a nuclear reactor, New Scientist, 15 March 2012 by Fred Pearce  By the start of 2012, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 138 commercial power reactors had been permanently shut down. At least 80 are expected to join the queue for decommissioning in the coming decade – more if other governments join Germany in deciding to phase out nuclear power following the Fukushima disaster in Japan last year.

And yet, so far, only 17 of these have been dismantled and made permanently safe. That’s because decommissioning is difficult, time-consuming and expensive. Continue reading →

March 16, 2012 Posted by | 2 WORLD, decommission reactor, Reference | Leave a comment

Confusion about Australian company Lynas rare earths and radioactive waste in Malaysia

No decision yet on sending Lynas waste to Western Australia  The Star, Malaysia, KUALA LUMPUR, 7 March 12, : The Cabinet has not decided on a proposal asking Lynas Corp rare earth waste material to be sent back to Western Australia, said Green Technology, Energy and Water Minister Datuk Seri Peter Chin.

He said Western Australian Minister for Mines and Petroleum Norman Moore was entitled to his view that Australia would not accept responsibility for any waste produced by Lynas Malaysia Sdn Bhd. “Our Cabinet has not made a decision on the matter. Wait for it to be announced,” he said after the launch of the National Energy Security Conference 2012 yesterday.

Moore told the Australian parliament that the Western Australian government does not support the import and storage of other countries’ radioactive waste.

PKR MP Fuziah Salleh had proposed that the rare earth waste material for Lynas be returned to Australia. ….http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/29/nation/10825847&sec=nation

  Lynas to send residue abroad if no suitable disposal site found in Malaysia The Star, Malaysia, By ONG HAN SEAN KUANTAN,  March 6, 2012:Lynas Corp has already submitted a letter of undertaking to send its rare earth processing residue abroad if it cannot find a suitable waste disposal site in Malaysia. International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said the move was taken as an assurance to the people’s psychological and emotional safety.

“Even though the Government is satisfied there will be no radioactive residue produced during the plant’s operation, we have ordered Lynas to guarantee and plan the provision of a permanent waste disposal facility far from human population as recommended by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“Failing which, Lynas has already expressed willingness to take the residue out of Malaysia,” said Mustapa in a joint statement with Pahang Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob here Tuesday.

He said the Government had also announced the setting up of an independent monitoring panel to audit the plant’s construction as an additional measure. On the residue’s radiation monitoring, Mustapa said the plant had yet to start operation and the Government had not appoint independent experts to analyse the radiation level of the residues produced by the
plant…..  http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/3/6/nation/20120306154934&sec=nation

 Shut down or there’ll be another anti-Lynas rally, Govt told http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2012/2/28/nation/10818800&sec=nation The Star, Malaysia, 6 March 12, KUANTAN: Another anti-Lynas rally will be held if the Government does not shut down the rare earth refinery project in Gebeng, said the Himpunan Hijau committee which organised the first protest on Sunday.

Its chairman Wong Tack said he was disappointed with Prime Minis­ter Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s statement that the Go­­vernment had to look for a solution that would be acceptable to the people without affecting investments. “We cannot accept his statement. Therefore, the Him­punan Hijau 3.0 rally is on – unless the project is cancelled,” Wong said at a press conference yesterday. The organisers had called on the Government to respond within 24 hours after the Himpunan Hijau 2.0 rally ended two days ago. Najib had said Lynas was looking for an uninhabited location to store the waste material from the plant, although it was scientifically safe. Wong said the committee would discuss with Bersih chairman Da­­­tuk Ambiga Sreenevasan on the possibility of holding a joint rally soon.

March 7, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Japan’s radioactive cleanup, a mammoth and uncertain task that will take decades

The waste would remain in the longer-term storage for 30 years, until half the radioactive cesium breaks down. Then it would still have to be treated and compacted   using technology that hasn’t been fully developed yet   before being buried deep underground in enclosed
containers. ….

Japan cleans up radiation zone, unsure of success, The News, March 06, 2012   FUKUSHIMA, Japan: Workers in rubber boots chip at the frozen ground, scraping until they’ve removed the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of radioactive soil from the yard of a single home. Total amount of waste gathered: roughly 60 tons.

One down, tens of thousands to go. Continue reading →

March 6, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Reference, wastes | Leave a comment

Where to put over 100,000 tons of radioactive waste materials?

6,800 tons of radiation-tainted rice straw left lying in 8 prefectures, Mainichi Daily News, 5 Mar 12, http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/news/20120303p2a00m0na010000c.html  Some 6,800 metric tons of rice straw contaminated with radioactive substances leaked from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant remains in eight prefectures with no immediate prospect of disposal, the Mainichi has learned.

Moreover, sludge generated from radiation-contaminated waste water as well as ash tainted with radioactive materials amounts to some 97,000 tons in 12 prefectures — 3.6 times the figure as of July last year, according to the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. Continue reading →

March 6, 2012 Posted by | Japan, Reference, wastes | Leave a comment

Rocketing costs for cleaning up nuclear waste

Nuclear cleanup costs expected to skyrocket at Parks, TRIB LIVE News, By Mary Ann Thomas, ASPINWALL HERALD, March 4, 2012 The cleanup costs for the nuclear waste dump in Parks Township are expected to soar from $170 million to at least $250 million and maybe as much as half a billion dollars because of recently discovered complexities of the site and safety considerations. Continue reading →

March 6, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

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