USA’s ‘Blue Ribbon’ Nuclear Waste Commission at Hanford
Even if Yucca had opened as planned 10 years ago, it would not have enough space for all of Hanford’s wastes,……there is no final resting place for these “vitrified” wastes……..
A Watchdog’s Warning on Nuclear Waste, NYTimes.com, By MATTHEW L. WALD, July 12, 2010, “…. a new report suggests that Hanford has a lot more plutonium waste that the Energy Department had acknowledged.This week, a blue-ribbon commission on nuclear waste established to seek alternatives to Yucca will hold two days of hearings near Hanford. Continue reading
Three times more plutonium waste than they thought, at Hanford!
.
“What is reasonably foreseeable is that there are people who will be drinking the water in the ground at Hanford at some point in the next few hundred years,” Mr. Pollet said. “We’re going to be killing people, pure and simple.”
Analysis Triples U.S. Plutonium Waste Figures, NYTimes.com, by Matthew Wald, 12 July 2010, The amount of plutonium buried at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington State is nearly three times what the federal government previously reported, a new analysis indicates, suggesting that a cleanup to protect future generations will be far more challenging than planners had assumed. Continue reading
Ever more radioactive – they don’t know what to do with Depleted Uranium
Depleted uranium, unlike other forms of nuclear waste, grows more dangerous as it ages, making storage difficult.
DOE seeks home for depleted uranium, SALT LAKE CITY, July 9 (UPI) — The U.S. government is looking for even a temporary storage site for 10,000 drums of depleted uranium from a South Carolina nuclear plant, Utah officials said.The waste was supposed to have been stored permanently in Utah by EnergySolutions Inc. But the state intervened as the first shipment arrived, seeking more information from the Salt Lake City company and a review of the site………
Depleted uranium, unlike other forms of nuclear waste, grows more dangerous as it ages, making storage difficult.
The first shipment from the Savannah River site, 5,400 barrels, is now in an EnergySolutions storage cell in Utah. The rest is still in South Carolina.….DOE seeks home for depleted uranium – UPI.com
Delays, cost, opposition, to UK’s nuclear waste plans
Budget cuts caution on UK nuclear waste plan, BBC News, 7 July 2010 The UK’s deep store for nuclear waste should open for business around 2040 – but spending cuts could delay the plans, and community support is vital. These are the key messages in a report from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the agency charged with managing the nation’s waste………….
The UK’s nuclear waste problem is considerably bigger than either of the Scandinavian countries……….
The total volume of waste from past and present operations amounts to about 500,000 cubic metres, although there is a huge variety in types of waste, the level of radioactivity and how long it will remain dangerously radioactive.
The coalition government has said it is committed to finding a long-term solution for the UK’s nuclear waste problem………..If no communities want the repository, said Alun Ellis, it will not be built.
“The government’s answer to this question is that Plan B is to make Plan A work,”
U.S. Dept of Energy confident of preventing Yucca Mt nuclear waste dump
Nuclear Waste Repository Moving Ahead, Epoch Times, By Nicholas Zifcak, 1 July 2010, “…….The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled against the Department of Energy ‘s (DOE) request to withdraw the application for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. The decision goes against the efforts of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), and President Obama to prevent the facility from moving forward…
……..But the DOE is not ready to give up. In a statement responding to the decision the DOE said it is confident, “we have the legal authority to withdraw the application for the Yucca Mountain repository. We believe the administrative board’s decision is wrong and anticipate that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will reverse that decision.”
The American Nuclear Society and The National Resources Defense Council did not return requests for comment by press time.
Nuclear regulatory Commission judges rule in favour of Nevada nuclear waste dump
Three administrative judges within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled last week that President Barack Obama and Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu don’t have the authority to close the controversial site unilaterally. That can only be accomplished, the judges said, by an act of Congress…………… Continue reading
USA’s nuclear waste crisis- the turmoil continues
NRC panel: Nuclear waste dump process continues, Google hosted news, By KEN RITTER (AP) – 30 June 2010, LAS VEGAS — A Nuclear Regulatory Commission legal panel put a proposal for a national nuclear waste dump in Nevada back on track Tuesday, at least until the full commission decides whether the Department of Energy can withdraw its plan. Continue reading
How can nuclear energy go ahead, with no waste disposal solution?
The Feds Must Address Nuclear Waste Storage Problem By STUART PRICE | TIMES-DISPATCH June 27, 2010 Richmond, Va.
Last January, President Obama announced that the Department of Energy was creating a new group, the Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future, to review the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle and challenge national practices in place for more than 50 years.
One of the commission’s opportunities will be to determine if spent nuclear fuel rod assemblies can be safely recycled, thereby reducing the final quantity of waste requiring disposal. The commission’s challenges will include defining permanent nuclear waste solutions and selecting final repository sites. In July 2010, a commission subcommittee on waste disposal will meet in Washington. The commission’s final report is expected in January 2012.
Australia’s Northern Territory asks new Prime Minister to stop nuclear waste dump plan
Former Prime Minister John Howard planned to build the dump on Muckaty Station, in Central Australia, because the Northern Territory did not have the constitutional strength to block the move.
Hendo urges Gillard to dump Muckaty, Northern Territory News, NICK CALACOURAS June 26th, 2010 AUSTRALIA’S new Prime Minister Julia Gillard should rethink her predecessor’s decision to build a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory, Chief Minister Paul Henderson said. Continue reading
A nuclear radioactive mess under London’s Olympic Games site?
The development of the Olympic site in east London after the Games have finished could be in jeopardy because of radioactive waste buried beneath the site, experts have warned. Continue reading
Video: Australia imposing nuclear waste dump on Aboriginal land
VIDEO Australia nuclear waste dump row – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera English Australia nuclear waste dump row – Asia-Pacific – Al Jazeera 17 June 2010, Australia’s government is pushing its plans for a nuclear waste dump in a remote part of the country’s Northern Territory.It has signed an agreement with the traditional owners of the land who will receive $10m in compensation, most of it in cash.But the proposed nuclear dump has divided local people while and environmentalists warn it could one day be used to store waste from overseas.Al Jazeera’s Azhar Sukri reports.
Utah will suffer, if “blended” radioactivity is allowed
Nuclear cocktail, Don’t blend radioactive wastes, Salt Lake Tribune : 06/11/2010 0 If you combine hamburger and soy beans and call it a vegetable burger, you’re doing vegetarians a disservice. The meat is still part of the patty.Likewise, if the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission allows the nuclear industry to blend assorted low-level radioactive wastes to achieve a mix that unfairly qualifies for disposal in the Beehive State, Utahns will be done a disservice. Like meat in a fake vegeburger, the hotter wastes that we prohibit would still be a part of the mix.
State regulators and elected leaders have made it crystal clear through statute, rules and speech that Utah is only willing to accept Class A waste, the most benign category. The NRC should honor that wish instead of trying to foist hotter Class B and C wastes on the state through blending. But that’s the effort afoot, as the NRC contemplates a policy change that would benefit the nuclear power industry and Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions — at Utah’s expense.
“Blending” of radioactive wastes will avoid safety requirements
“blending” would allow utilities, processors, and waste disposal sites to avoid existing environmental and safety requirements for how they dispose of the hotter waste……….the new “blended” waste has significantly higher concentrations of radioactivity than the typical lowest level radioactive waste…..
In the past year, state governments have also had to deal with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s reclassification of Depleted Uranium (which becomes more radioactive over time) as Class A waste.
Obama Administration Should Say “No” to Blending Radioactive Waste, THE HUFFINGTON POST, Joseph DiCamillo, 12 June 2010, The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will consider whether to allow for the first time nuclear waste processors to “blend” higher level radioactive waste with the lowest level radioactive waste at a hearing on June 17. Continue reading
Nuclear waste casks, pools, piles, are ticking time bombs
(USA) Ticking time bombs: what should we do with nuclear waste?, SmartPlanet, By Andrew Nusca | Jun 8, 2010 “……..the WSJ report outlines some scary figures:
- More than 800 filled casks await a final destination, holding 14,000 metric tons of waste.
- Another 49,000 metric tons is being held in spent-fuel pools, waiting to be placed in vessels.
- A further 2,000 metric tons of nuclear reactor waste is created every year.
The problem is that the next wave of nuclear reactors are already on the drawing board.
Britain faces ever-increasing debt with nuclear wastes
Chris Huhne warns of £4bn black hole in nuclear power budget, guardian.co.uk, Patrick Wintour, 1 June 2010 Energy secretary blames predecessors for avoiding tough decisions in ‘classic example of short-termism’ Chris Huhne, the new energy secretary, said: ‘What we are effectively paying for here is decades of cheap nuclear electricity.’
Britain is facing a £4bn black hole in unavoidable nuclear decommissioning and waste costs, Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary disclosed tonight. Continue reading
1 This Month
26 April – Chernobyl: Inside the Meltdown airs on National Geographic on Sunday 26th April from 4pm
29 April – Nuclear Expert Webinar #1 – Radiation Impacts on Families with Mary Olson and Cindy Folkers
- 12:15 PM MT – 1:45 PM MT
- Location: Virtual – REGISTER TODAY
4 May -West Suburban Peace Coalition to discuss Iran war at May Educational Forum
Monday, May 4, 7:00 – 8:00 PM Central Standard Time
Title: : How Trump’s Narrative Tries to Shape the Reality of the War on Iran.
Contact Walt Zlotow, zlotow@hotmail.com 630 442 3045 for further information
14 May – online event From Bombs to Data Centres: the Face of Nuclear Colonialism
Pine Ridge Uranium is the real threat, not Tehran- Tell Burgum: Stop the Extraction.
Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes – A good documentary on Chernobyl on SBS available On Demand for the next 3 weeks– https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/chernobyl-the-lost-tapes/2352741955560
To see nuclear-related stories in greater depth and intensity – go to https://nuclearinformation.wordpress.com
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