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UK government wooing county Kent to accept nuclear waste dump

Wetlands of Romney Marsh in Kent could become new home of nuclear waste dump Mail Online, By SUZANNAH HILLS, 17 May 2012 The wildlife-rich wetlands of Romney Marsh in Kent could become the home of an underground nuclear waste dumping ground if government plans get the go ahead.
Thousands of letters have been sent by Shepway District Council to residents living in the area as part of a consultation over the proposal for a multi-million pound Nuclear Research and Disposal Facility.
Under the plans, hazardous nuclear waste would be buried between 200m to 1000m below the ground in underground vaults, while a research facility would be constructed on the surface…. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2145628/Wetlands-Romney-Marsh-Kent-new-home-nuclear-waste-dump.html#ixzz1vGB2CiZp

May 18, 2012 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Kent County Council opposes nuclear waste bunker plan

Kent nuclear waste bunker proposal considered BBC News 16 May 12  A bunker used to store nuclear waste from all over the UK could be built in Kent, under a council’s plans. Shepway District Council is examining whether a nuclear disposal facility, where waste is buried underground, could be built at Romney Marsh. The authority said it could bring jobs to the area as Dungeness A and B power stations are phased out.

However, Kent County Council said it would use “every tool in the box” to oppose the scheme. The Romney Marsh Nuclear Research and Disposal Facility would be buried 200m (656ft) to 1,000m (3,280ft) below ground…..

Council leader’s ‘horror’ The leader of Kent County Council, Paul Carter, said his authority
opposed the plan and would push for a county-wide referendum if necessary. “We are totally opposed to initiating any process that even entertains the possibility of building a nuclear waste disposal site anywhere near or around Kent,” he said. “We will do everything possible to oppose this unviable proposal and will use every tool in the box to bring an end to this scheme…. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-18086988

May 17, 2012 Posted by | opposition to nuclear, Reference, UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Finland’s plan for eternal storage of nuclear waste

there is the problem of time. HLW will remain dangerous for longer than civilization itself has existed. Future civilizations may not even have the ability to address the dangers—even if we could somehow warn them what they’re dealing with. 

Meanwhile, the construction of new nuclear facilities continues apace, even in the U.S. Earlier this year, federal regulators granted licenses to construct two new plants in Georgia, the first such licenses in the U.S. since 1978. So our waste problem, and the world’s, will only get worse. 

Finland’s Crazy Plan to Make Nuclear Waste Disappear, Popular Mechanics,  By Tim Heffernan 11 May 12, The U.S. plan to bury nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain may be dead, but in Finland, engineers are going ahead with a plan to build an enormous bunker to house the dangerous stuff. And they have a radical solution to keep future civilizations away—hide the nuclear waste somewhere so unremarkable and unpleasant that nobody would ever think to go there.   Barring a disaster—or a miracle, depending on your viewpoint—the Finnish government later this year will begin the final licensing of the world’s first permanent storage facility for high-level nuclear waste. Continue reading →

May 11, 2012 Posted by | Finland, Reference, wastes | Leave a comment

Recycling plutonium more dangerous and costly than burying it

Experts urge Britain to bury plutonium rather than recycling
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120510p2g00m0in010000c.html 10 May 12, WASHINGTON (Kyodo) — Four U.S. nuclear experts urged Britain to bury plutonium rather than recycling for fuel for nuclear reactors as it is more cost-effective, according to the British science journal Nature’s Thursday edition.

Citing an estimate in 2000 that recycling plutonium from spent fuel to make mixed oxide fuel adds $750 million each year to the cost of electric power generation in France, the four said, ”Britain should seriously evaluate the less costly and less risky method of direct
plutonium disposal, and take the opportunity to lead the world towards a better solution for reducing stockpiles.” Continue reading →

May 10, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, Reference, UK | 1 Comment

Thorium nuclear reactors are no solution to energy problems

It doesn’t solve the proliferation problem. It doesn’t solve the waste problem, either. So every nuclear reactor, no matter what type, creates fission products, which are highly radioactive materials, some short-lived, some long-lived

This is highly radioactive waste. If you look at Oak Ridge’s current evaluation, they say you have to condition this waste, you have to convert the fluorides, and then you have to have a deep geologic repository.

What’s in this waste? Cesium-137 and strontium-190, hundreds of years, just like today’s reactors. Cesium-135 and iodine-129, millions of years half-life. Technetium-99, 200,000 years. 

Is Thorium A Magic Bullet For Our Energy Problems?  NPR May 4 2012, “……..With me is Dr. Arjun Makhijani. He is president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. He’s here in our D.C. studios. Do you agree with Richard Martin that we missed out on thorium? If we had started out with thorium, would be in better shape now?

ARJUN MAKHIJANI: I don’t think so. I think the problems of nuclear power, fundamentally, would remain. The safety problems would be different. I mean, Mr. Martin and proponents of thorium are right in the sense that the liquid fuel reactor has a number of safety advantages, but it also has a number of disadvantages. Continue reading →

May 7, 2012 Posted by | Reference, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

The thorny question of the importation of nuclear wastes for temporary management

Importation of foreign radioactive waste into the U.S. sets a bad precedent and may well serve to discourage other countries from developing safe techniques to manage their own waste

US company applies to import radioactive waste from Mexico, incinerate it and return the ash  Washington Post, 2 May 12,  YAKIMA, Wash. — A waste management company has applied to the federal government for a license to import up to 500 tons of radioactive waste from Mexico to south-central Washington, where the waste will be incinerated and the resulting ash returned to Mexico.

This isn’t the first application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to import foreign radioactive waste, but it’s among several recent proposals that have generated little opposition because the waste won’t be permanently stored in the U.S.  In 2009, a proposal to import thousands of tons of radioactive waste from Italy, treat it and ultimately store the remnants in Utah was abandoned following public outcry. Continue reading →

May 3, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

UK may have 1000 radioactive waste sites

Nuclear waste ‘may be blighting 1,000 UK sites‘ MoD under fire after report finds number of contaminated sites is far higher than previously estimated Rob Edwards, guardian.co.uk,  2 May 2012 Hundreds of sites across England and Wales could be contaminated with radioactive waste from old military bases and factories, according to a new government report. Continue reading →

May 3, 2012 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

Investors need to consider the radioactive waste problems of rare earths processing

Uranium and thorium present real risk to rare earths developers – Dennis    Mineweb 2 May Interview with Carolyn Dennis of Dundee Capital Markets   “….. TCMR: Some rare earth deposits include uranium and thorium byproducts and, if a company is not recovering those, it needs to dispose of them. Is that a challenge most REE miners face?

CD: It’s a real risk across the board for rare earth companies. Each deposit, depending on the type of mineralogy, will have varying grades of uranium and thorium. The jurisdiction the deposit is in and how it approaches dealing with the uranium, thorium and radioactivity will dictate how much of an issue it is for the project. It can be a problem in processing as well. In a lot of cases, the thorium should be removed from the concentrate earlier in the process in order to improve processing downstream. Beyond that, radioactive waste material needs to be disposed of….”

May 3, 2012 Posted by | Reference, wastes | Leave a comment

Safety shortcomings at Hanford nuclear waste site

The radioactive waste is currently stored in 177 aging, underground tanks, many of which have leaked into the groundwater, threatening the neighboring Columbia River.

Energy Department audit finds nuclear plant vessels procured to 2005 fail to meet requirements The Republic, SHANNON DININNY, 30 April 12  YAKIMA, Wash. — The Energy Department and a contractor building a waste treatment plant at the nation’s most contaminated nuclear site procured and installed tanks that did not always meet requirements of a quality assurance program or the contract, a federal audit concluded Monday. Continue reading →

May 1, 2012 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Fukishima’s radioactive wastes and the failure of nuclear reprocessing

The main reason why there is so much spent fuel at the Da-Ichi site is that the plan to send it off for nuclear recycling has collapsed.

This scheme is based on long discredited assumptions of …. a new generation of “fast” reactors

 nearly all of the spent fuel at the Da-Ichi containing some of the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet will remain indefinitely in vulnerable pools.

The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Is Far From Over   HUFFINGTON POST, Robert Alvarez, Senior Scholar, Institute for Policy Studies, 22 April 12,“……Last week, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) revealed plans to remove 2,274 spent fuel assemblies from the damaged reactors that will probably take at least a decade to accomplish. The first priority will be removal of the contents in Pool No. 4. This pool is structurally damaged and contains about 10 times more cesium-137 than released at Chernobyl. Continue reading →

April 23, 2012 Posted by | Japan, reprocessing, wastes | Leave a comment

Dubious plan by Lynas to sell 300,000 tonnes of converted radioactive wastes

The anti-Lynas groups also questioned today whether the market “can fully absorb the colossal amount produced given that Lynas will be producing at least 300,000 tonnes of contaminated waste every year.”

Locals say market won’t buy Lynas’ recycled waste, ww.themalaysianinsider.com/mobile/malaysia/article/locals-say-market-wont-buy-lynas-recycled-waste/ The Malaysian Insider ,21 April,  By Shannon Teoh KUALA LUMPUR, — Lynas Corp’s plans to recycle waste from its controversial RM2.5 billion rare earth plant in Kuantan into a commercial product will not be accepted by the market, local residents opposed to the refinery said today.(Jan 26 ) Continue reading →

April 21, 2012 Posted by | business and costs, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

Rare Earths company has no proper radioactive waste management plan

Unlike the Lynas plant, the other three refineries’ radioactive wastes are sent back to the respective mines.

“Lynas has no concrete radioactive waste management plan. Lynas claims it can store its waste onsite forever.

The Lynas plant, she added, would have 500 tonnes of liquid discharge per hour channelled into the Balok River.

Lynas whitewashing refinery safety concerns, says Fuziah, The Malaysian Insider, By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal April 16, 2012 KUALA LUMPUR,  — PKR’s Fuziah Salleh has accused Lynas Corp of whitewashing safety concerns of its planned refinery in Kuantan by claiming there is a “concerted political campaign” against the plant’s construction,
In response, Fuziah  accused the Lynas Corp head of “deviating” from the real issue of safety, saying that a simple comparative study showed the Lynas refinery did not support any form of “sustainable development.”

“They are not addressing concerns of safety, whitewashing safety concerns, silent about safety issues. “They have only addressed radiation aspects, external radiation… they are narrow-minded in terms of perspective of radiation,” the PKR vice-president told The Malaysian Insider. Continue reading →

April 18, 2012 Posted by | Malaysia, Uranium, wastes | Leave a comment

The cleanup of Moab uranium tailings – 17 more years to go?

Lack of funding to slow cleanup of uranium tailings (includes video) KSL.com Utah By Geoff Liesik , 13 April 12,  MOAB — Environmental crews have removed more than 5 million tons of radioactive tailings from the banks of the Colorado River in less than three years.

They still have about 11 million tons to go, but the pace of the cleanup is about to slow down. Continue reading →

April 14, 2012 Posted by | Resources -audiovicual, Uranium, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

The bitter history of Malaysia’s Bukit Merah rare earths project.

Some of the surviving residents of Bukit Merah are still plagued with severe health problems. Until this very day, the Malaysian authorities refuse to acknowledge that the radioactive waste was responsible for the sudden escalation of health problems among the residents

Today, the government is the official custodian of this repository in Bukit Merah. This site in Bukit Merah is declared as a restricted and dangerous dump site for radioactive materials but a curtain of official silence has descended on it. Has the government not learnt from Bukit Merah?

The Lynas project is likely to be a replay of the ARE fiasco but on a much larger scale.

The benefits gained by Malaysia from the Lynas investment are very little relative to the risks involved. Whilst the profits of the project go to Lynas (untaxed) and the few Malaysian companies that are involved in the construction of and the provision of supplies to the Gebeng rare earth plant, the radioactive waste will remain in
Malaysian soil for hundreds of years.

Lynas issue: Not learning from bitter experience —The Malaysian Insider,  Richard Pendragon, April 12, 2012 “……..Bukit Merah The history of the rare earth industry in Malaysia is little known to most Malaysians. Most Malaysians in fact think that the Lynas project in Pahang is the first time Malaysia has been associated with this industry.
Few Malaysians actually know that there was a rare earth plant in Bukit Merah, Perak, which has been closed some 10 or more years ago, following a ruling by the High Court of Malaysia that the company involved was in negligence, and that the radioactive waste generated by the plant was dangerous and had to be removed and secured in a safe
place away from people for hundreds of years.

The evidence of the hazardous legacy of this rare earth plant is still present in our midst as a reminder to every one of the risks involved. Continue reading →

April 13, 2012 Posted by | environment, history, Malaysia, Reference, Uranium, wastes | 2 Comments

The danger of nuclear powered drones, and plutonium for spacecraft

The Deadly Folly of Nuclear Power Overhead HUFFINGTON POST, Karl Grossman: 04/12/2012  The crash last week of a U.S. drone on the Seychelles Islands– the second crash of a U.S. drone on Seychelles in four months — underlines the deadly folly of a plan of U.S. national laboratory scientists and the Northrop Grumman Corp. for nuclear-powered drones. Continue reading →

April 13, 2012 Posted by | - plutonium, Reference, safety, technology, USA, weapons and war | Leave a comment

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