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USA nuclear wastes – the intractable problem that just won’t go away

U.S. nuclear operators have begun moving some of their spent fuel out of pools and into “dry casks,” considered safer because the casks require only natural air flow, not mechanically pumped water, to cool the fuel. But only about 15,000 metric tons of fuel are stored this way in the U.S., in part because the system is expensive. Even dry-cask storage isn’t a permanent solution. The casks are expected to last decades, not the thousands of years it takes the fuel to become safe…. “No one else on the planet has a solution either.”..
Problem of Where to Put Waste Besets Nuclear Industry, WSJ, By BEN CASSELMAN, JUNE 9, 2011 No question has bedeviled the U.S. nuclear-power industry more than what to do with the thousands of tons of radioactive waste generated by its reactors every year.

U.S. nuclear reactors run on enriched uranium fuel. A nuclear reaction splits the uranium atoms, emitting heat that boils water, turning a turbine and generating electricity. The process leaves behind waste that is no longer capable of sustaining a nuclear reaction but is still highly radioactive. Continue reading →

June 10, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA holds largest amount of concentrated radioactivity – time bombs!

The U.S. government should promptly take steps to reduce these risks by placing all spent nuclear fuel older than five years in dry, hardened storage casks like Germany did 25 years ago. …..

After more than 50 years, the quest for permanent nuclear waste disposal remains illusory. One thing, however, is clear, whether we like it or not: the largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet will remain in storage at U.S. reactor sites for the indefinite future. 

America’s Nuclear Spent-Fuel Time Bombs HUFFINGTON POST, Robert Alvarez, : 06/ 6/11 Japan’s nuclear disaster should serve as a wake-up call for the United States.

Now that many Americans have stopped paying attention to Japan’s nuclear catastrophe, shocking new details about its severity are finally coming to light. Continue reading →

June 7, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Problems in France’s plan for 100,000 years of nuclear waste storage

“No geologist can guarantee that there will never be water infiltration in the places intended for storage,”

Europeans Pursue Labyrinths of Nuclear Waste,  NYTimes.com, By SUE LANDAU, June 2, 2011 BURE, FRANCE —”…….Gérald Ouzounian, the international director at Andra, said that research had found that this hard clay had a water content of just 15 percent, and that water remained in the clay rather than moving through it. This is critical for the repository, because it must prevent radioactivity seeping out into groundwater and contaminating soil, plants, animals, and ultimately, human beings. Continue reading →

June 3, 2011 Posted by | France, wastes | Leave a comment

France’s nuclear wastes must be secured for over 100,000 years

The repositories are supposed to remain hermetically sealed for at least 100,000 years — roughly the length of time human beings have existed on Earth

Europeans Pursue Labyrinths of Nuclear Waste,  NYTimes.com, By SUE LANDAU : June 2, 2011 BURE, FRANCE — Reached by narrow roads that meander through picturesque villages, a high-tech laboratory sits in a corner of France so remote that until construction started on it a decade ago, the local inn was not connected to the electricity grid.

Beneath a plateau surrounded by fields of colza and wheat, the underground laboratory, located near the village of Bure, in the eastern French region of Lorraine, is run by the Agence Nationale pour la Gestion des Déchets Radioactifs, or Andra, the national authority charged with the safe disposal of nuclear waste. Continue reading →

June 3, 2011 Posted by | France, wastes | Leave a comment

Fukushima nuclear plant might now be used as a temporary nuclear waste dump

As the sites are for intermediary use, the nation is still searching for a deep underground storage site for the waste, according to the World Nuclear Association…

Fukushima set to become Nuclear waste graveyard Bloomberg / Tokyo May 27, 2011,  Japan’s atomic energy specialists are discussing a plan to make the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant a storage site for radioactive waste from the crippled station run by Tokyo Electric Power Co.The Atomic Energy Society of Japan is studying the proposal, which would cost tens of billions of dollars, Muneo Morokuzu, a professor of energy and environmental public policy at the University of Tokyo, said in an interview yesterday. The society makes policy recommendations to the government. Continue reading →

May 27, 2011 Posted by | Japan, wastes | Leave a comment

UK plan to dump nuclear waste in sea

Hinkley Point nuclear waste sea disposal plan Nuclear waste is currently stored in vaults at Hinkley Point, BBC News, 23 May 2011  Plans being developed to deal with nuclear waste at Hinkley Point A in west Somerset will see radioactive gas and liquid released into the sea.The power station began decommissioning in 2001 and is working on a system to put “intermediate” waste in vats of acid to reduce it down.

Magnox, the company that manages the site, said there would be no risk to public health or the environment.

But a nuclear expert questioned the controls in place at Hinkley Point……John Large, a nuclear consultant who has worked with power companies and Greenpeace, said: “If you look at the history and the development of the British nuclear industry, and look at the calamity that was caused by radioactive discharges around Sellafield, if the past practice is a sign I don’t think sufficient guards and controls will be in place at this station.”

Before this process can start, it needs to be approved by the Environment Agency and the Office for Nuclear Regulation, and the company will have to apply for planning permission for a new building….http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-13501260

May 24, 2011 Posted by | UK, wastes | Leave a comment

“Blue Ribbon” Panel wants a powerful new govt agency to set up a nuclear waste dump

the commission also urged creation of a new government agency with the sole purpose of selecting the locations of the proposed interim storage and repository facilities. The proposed agency should be given the necessary financial and institutional resources, as well as sufficient authority, to make its policies stick……

Panel urges centralized storage facility and permanent repository for nuclear waste , David KramerBy Physics Today on May 17, 2011, A recommendation has been made by the commission formed to advise the Obama administration on what to do with the spent nuclear fuel from the nation’s commercial reactors: The material should be consolidated at an above-ground storage facility while a new search is carried out to find a permanent geological repository. Continue reading →

May 19, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

For Hanford -a football field, 7 feet deep, of highly radioactive waste?

The projected amount of waste is relatively low, enough to cover a football field 7 feet deep. But the radioactivity is high: 160 million curies, more than three-quarters of the radiation contained in 177 leak-prone underground tanks at Hanford. Those tanks are the focus of the nation’s largest nuclear cleanup project. …

Opponents, including Heart of America Northwest and the state of Oregon, say Hanford is the wrong place to bring the waste given the ongoing cleanup and the potential for radioactive contamination of the Columbia.

Permanent storage of highly radioactive nuclear waste at Hanford to be debated , May 17, 2011,  By Scott Learn, The Oregonian  A Department of Energy proposal that could bring more radioactive waste to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, including contaminated metal from decommissioned U.S. nuclear power plants, gets a public airing in Portland Thursday night. Continue reading →

May 19, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA’s Blue Ribbon Commission floundering in the dark over nuclear wastes

Lessons of Fukushima remain unknown……..critical details of what happened to the spent fuel held in elevated water pools in reactor buildings remain a mystery to U.S. regulators and the Blue Ribbon Commission members.

Fukushima Disaster Deepens U.S. Turmoil Over Nuclear Waste Storage, NYTimes.com, By PETER BEHR of ClimateWire  May 16, 2011 Japan’s nuclear disaster and the abandoned Yucca Mountain repository are combining to create a more complex puzzle for U.S. policymakers wrestling with the future of nuclear power in the United States.
On Friday, a Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) of experts appointed by the Obama administration presented subcommittee reports calling for the “expedited” creation of one or more consolidated interim sites for storing spent fuel from commercial U.S. reactors.

More than 70,000 tons of spent fuel with varying levels of remaining radioactivity are currently in “wet” or “dry” storage at the reactor sites, with nowhere else to go.
The subcommittee also recommended that the United States develop one or more permanent underground repositories for spent fuel in place of the proposed Yucca Mountain repository that has been shelved by the Obama administration. Both interim and permanent sites should only be located where local communities welcome them, and not imposed on a location, as Yucca Mountain was in Nevada, commissioners said. A new federal agency should be created to manage both interim and permanent site development, commissioners said.

A consolidated interim storage facility could take 20 years to locate, fund, license and build, according to the Government Accountability Office. A future permanent repository is even further in the future, the GAO said…..

Lessons of Fukushima remain unknown

More than two months after the start of the Fukushima crisis, critical details of what happened to the spent fuel held in elevated water pools in reactor buildings remain a mystery to U.S. regulators and the Blue Ribbon Commission members. Technicians had to wait several years after the 1979 nuclear accident at Three Mile Island before it was safe enough to directly assess the damage to the reactor. Crews at the Fukushima plant are in a daily struggle to control damaged reactors, and there is no guarantee that the accident details will become clear by the time the commission is planning to publish its draft final report, in July…….

In another two decades, many of the first U.S. commercial reactors will be coming to the end of an extended 60-year license term. It far from settled whether they could qualify for a new relicensing for another 20 years, or whether their owners would choose that course, experts say. That could mean that a growing line of reactors will be headed for decommissioning and more reactor sites will be closed with only their legacy of spent fuel containers, expanding the case for centralized storage, Meserve said…..

Fukushima Disaster Deepens U.S. Turmoil Over Nuclear Waste Storage – NYTimes.com

May 17, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA planning a short term action for securing nuclear waste

Report: Commission will outline above-ground nuclear waste strategy, THE HILL, By Andrew Restuccia – 05/13/11  A commission established by the Energy Department to find a path forward for dealing with the country’s nuclear waste will recommend storing it in above-ground containers, The New York Times reports.

The commission will outline a draft recommendation at a meeting Friday calling for “establishing one or more sites where used reactor fuel could be stored in steel and concrete structures on the earth’s surface for decades,” theTimes says. The Times says the commission will also outline steps toward determining a more permanent waste storage solution in the aftermath of the Obama administration’s decision to abandon a proposed permanent waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.

More from the Times:
“The commission will also recommend opening a new effort to find a burial site, members said, and suggest that it be led by an organization that is independent of the Department of Energy, which has been working on the waste disposal effort for decades…..http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/161075-report-commission-will-outline-above-ground-nuclear-waste-strategy

May 15, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

Secret plan for dumping nuclear waste in Mongolia

Japan, U.S. negotiating construction of nuclear waste facility in Mongolia, Mainichi Daily News 10 May 11 ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the U.S. Department of Energy have secretly been advancing plans to construct the world’s first international storage and disposal facility for spent nuclear fuel in Mongolia, it has been learned. Continue reading →

May 10, 2011 Posted by | Japan, secrets,lies and civil liberties, USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA’s Troubling Nuclear Waste Mess

The findings of the GAO, which serves as the investigative arm of Congress, complicate the Obama administration’s position on Yucca Mountain at a time when lawmakers and regulators are scrutinizing nuclear power and waste policies in the U.S…...

Nuclear waste from power plants is currently stored on-site at dozens of locations across the country. Because the law requires the U.S. government to be responsible for the waste, the government has to compensate the power plants for the cost of storing it.

Scrapping Yucca Mountain exposes U.S. to fines, By Tennille Tracy,  May 5, 2011, WASHINGTON -(MarketWatch)– The U.S. government could face fines of $75,000 a day if it fails to find a way to store or handle stockpiles of defense-related nuclear waste by 2035, according to the Government Accountability Office. Continue reading →

May 6, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

New plutonium nuclear fuel plant, costly, delayed, and unsafe, too?

More than a decade later, the mixed oxide fuel [2] (MOX) plant is running into mounting troubles [3], including long delays, soaring costs and the lack of utilities committed to use the new fuel in their reactors

But there’s another aspect of the story that has received little attention…

Safety Reviewers Raise Questions about Construction of New Nuclear Fuel Plant, ProPublica   By Donna Deedy, w ith Michael Grabell,   May 5, 2011, . In the late 1990s, U.S. policymakers approved a plan to turn plutonium from nuclear weapons into fuel for commercial reactors. The first-of-its kind plant [1], now being built in South Carolina, was intended to reduce the Cold War stockpile and the threat of nuclear material theft while supplying the country’s energy needs. Continue reading →

May 6, 2011 Posted by | - plutonium, safety, USA | Leave a comment

Hanford radioactive waste cleanup money diverted to storage costs

The alliance is “concerned that using cleanup funding to store and secure defense-related high-level waste and spent fuel might prevent other essential cleanup activities from being completed,” 

Hanford group questions nuclear waste storage, ANNETTE CARY, Tri-City Herald, May 4, 2011, RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) — The Energy Communities Alliance is asking questions about the cost of storing high-level radioactive waste and used nuclear fuel at Hanford and other Department of Energy sites in the absence of a federal repository. Continue reading →

May 5, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

USA’s Nuclear Establishment Ponders About Nuclear Wastes

Nuclear waste storage a top issue for NRC-chairman,   * How long should plants store waste in pools? * NRC studies issue after Fukushima pool damage  * Task force also studies power blackouts, flooding  By Roberta Rampton,  WASHINGTON, May 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. nuclear safety regulator is studying whether to require plants to more quickly move radioactive waste out of pools as part of a review on safety in the wake of Japan’s nuclear disaster, its chairman said on Monday.


…….. Dry casks use air to keep fuel cool, rather than pumped water, which needs steady power. A recent Massachusetts Institute of Technology study has pushed for a system of regional dry cask storage sites to hold nuclear waste.

Jaczko said it’s too soon to say what the NRC will do. A task force is studying what the U.S. regulator can learn from the Japan disaster and will issue recommendations in a couple of months.

The task force is slated to hold its first public briefing on its progress on May 12. It will also conduct a longer six-month review.

……… A “blue ribbon” panel also is currently studying long-term solutions for handling U.S. nuclear waste after the Obama administration shut down plans for a permanent dump site deep inside Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. That group is slated to deliver a draft report by July 29.

…….. http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFN0230128220110502

May 3, 2011 Posted by | USA, wastes | Leave a comment

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