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Can't We Just Throw Our Nuclear Waste Down A Deep Hole?
Forbes ^ | 3/05/2015

Posted on 03/06/2015 5:23:26 AM PST by thackney

...Deep_Borehole_Disposal and is pretty easy for some nuclear waste. Especially some highly radioactive materials that have sat in some fairly small capsules for almost 40 years.

...topic of discussion in Washington this week when Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz answered questions from Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) at a House Science, Space and Technology committee hearing.

The answer from Moniz was positive. He discussed a pilot project that would demonstrate the idea of deep borehole disposal using these capsules.

Deep borehole disposal is simple. Drill a very deep hole – 3 miles or so – put the waste in it and fill it up with some special layers, but mainly crushed rock and cement. As geologists, we know how many millions of years it takes for anything to get up from that depth in the Earth’s crust.

As long as you don’t put it under an active volcano!

The nice thing about deep borehole disposal is that it doesn’t matter where you put it in the country. At that depth, you’re so deep in the crust that the overlying rocks don’t matter. The water table doesn’t matter. The climate doesn’t matter. Human activities don’t matter.

But why these capsules? Because the material, cesium-137 and strontium-90 chloride salts (137CsCl and 90SrCl2), is in an easy waste form compared to that sludgy gooey stuff that makes up most of the tank waste left over from weapons production. These capsules are dry solid material in relatively small containers – less than 3-inches in diameter and only 2-feet long – very small compared to the large spent fuel assemblies and high-level waste glass logs usually discussed in geologic disposal plans....

...1,936 capsules filled with radioactive 137CsCl and 90SrCl2 that are stored underwater at the Waste Encapsulation Storage Facility at DOE’s Hanford site in Washington State....

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; nuclear
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To: tacticalogic

21 posted on 03/06/2015 6:06:13 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: yldstrk

I did some searching.

I am guessing the poster thinks all Freepers have memorized British Science Fiction TV from the 1970s...


22 posted on 03/06/2015 6:16:24 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney; central_va; yldstrk; wally_bert
What are you talking about?

What are you claiming happened in early 1999?

Dude....wait....what?

Why don’t you try explaining what you mean?

LOL to his credit, wally_bert got it a dozen posts ago, and I doubt he even needed the picture. What does he know that you don't know?

23 posted on 03/06/2015 6:17:43 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: thackney

Sweden has done something like this but on a grand scale. But that is because Sweden’s mountains are thick and granite, a very hard rock. And the Swedes are very good hard rock miners. As deep as 500 meters.

The Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory.

http://i.imgur.com/hWoxgjl.gif

The Forsmark Repository.

http://i.imgur.com/UfWnDDj.jpg


24 posted on 03/06/2015 6:20:02 AM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy ("Don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative." -Obama, 09-24-11)
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To: Buckeye McFrog

Harry was happy enough to take all the money to build it.


25 posted on 03/06/2015 6:23:09 AM PST by Tijeras_Slim
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To: Alex Murphy

I have a good recollection of gerry anderson programs, a big eagle as a kid and the boxed dvd set.

My knowledge of vintage Dr Who and Quinn Martin productions is fairly good as well.


26 posted on 03/06/2015 6:25:00 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: yefragetuwrabrumuy
500 meters? Child's play around here.
27 posted on 03/06/2015 6:25:39 AM PST by mad_as_he$$
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To: thackney
I have also seen plans to drill down into the crust near subduction zones of tectonic plates out in the ocean. The plates are the ones going back down into the crust, so waste deposited into them will go back down into the crust with it.
28 posted on 03/06/2015 6:42:41 AM PST by Vince Ferrer
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To: wally_bert
I have a good recollection of gerry anderson programs, a big eagle as a kid and the boxed dvd set. My knowledge of vintage Dr Who and Quinn Martin productions is fairly good as well.

As opportunities arise, you may see a couple The Invaders references from me. You'll certainly see some Police Squad! ones, which borrowed the "Quinn Martin Production" format.


29 posted on 03/06/2015 6:43:53 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: Alex Murphy

That you are a tormenter?


30 posted on 03/06/2015 6:45:09 AM PST by yldstrk
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To: thackney

It’s a great idea. But the nervous nannies who rule us all will cry and wring their hands and say, “Oh sure it sounds good, but you just never know what could happen down the road.” No matter what you say or how much evidence you give them, that is their answer. And right now our nation is full of them — of all political persuasions.


31 posted on 03/06/2015 6:48:54 AM PST by ElkGroveDan (My tagline is in the shop.)
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To: Alex Murphy

Recently, I’ve dug out both boxed sets of the Invaders (in color) and gotten through 90 percent of it. I thought it was great to have Roy Thinnes introduce the episodes.

Cannon and Barnaby Jones are the main QM Productions to me.


32 posted on 03/06/2015 6:54:36 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: yldstrk; wally_bert
"What does he know that you don't know?"

That you are a tormenter?

FReepers should read posts with their brains fully engaged. Those pangs of torment in reality might be your head hurting, from being made to think outside of the box.

33 posted on 03/06/2015 6:55:48 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: kjam22

It was worthy of repeat, on its on.


34 posted on 03/06/2015 6:55:52 AM PST by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: Alex Murphy

Georgio....... please tell us more and more and more.


35 posted on 03/06/2015 6:57:33 AM PST by X-spurt (CRUZ missile - armed and ready.)
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To: wally_bert
Recently, I’ve dug out both boxed sets of the Invaders (in color) and gotten through 90 percent of it. I thought it was great to have Roy Thinnes introduce the episodes.

Ditto here, but I haven't gotten that far through it yet. They are fantastic sets, and my only complaint is that CBS Video didn't use the iconic UFO on the box art.

36 posted on 03/06/2015 6:58:59 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: blueunicorn6

To hell with Godzira, the Japanese can take care of him.

I’m worried about the Mole Men.

The Mole Men climb out of that hole and you’d be asking where’s Superman when we need him.


37 posted on 03/06/2015 7:04:18 AM PST by IMR 4350
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To: Buckeye McFrog

I believe the best solution is burial along a subduction zone. Let the earth reclaim it. Once anything gets carried down into the mantel, it will get deleted to harmless levels.


38 posted on 03/06/2015 7:05:26 AM PST by FreeAtlanta (Liberty or Big Government - you can't have both.)
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To: Alex Murphy

Nah, I get too much thinking outside the box at work.


39 posted on 03/06/2015 7:07:46 AM PST by yldstrk
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To: FreeAtlanta

Diluted....dang autocorrect/phone keyboard


40 posted on 03/06/2015 7:11:19 AM PST by FreeAtlanta (Liberty or Big Government - you can't have both.)
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