Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

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
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 last
To: Alex Murphy

Can’t have everything but at least it’s on DVD. The remaining Cannon and Barnaby Jones would be nice to see.

QM was a favorite since people were actually introduced up front. What was funny sometimes was a special guest star with no real anything for credits or recognizable. Maybe an inside joke? I wished I had asked Lee Merriweather when she was at DragonCon years back. It was great just to say hello and talk for a minute at the table.


41 posted on 03/06/2015 7:13:13 AM PST by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: thackney

I’m guessing he’s a Prince fan and does a lot of partying, or did so at the time.


42 posted on 03/06/2015 7:13:15 AM PST by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: central_va

A large Prince concert, I’m guessing, with with Purple rain on the Party in 1999.


43 posted on 03/06/2015 7:14:51 AM PST by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: Alex Murphy
FReepers should read posts with their brains fully engaged.

That is insulting. Not everyone is a fan of British TV Science Fiction from 4 decades ago. To claim our lack of that specific knowledge means we don't use our minds is pathetic.

44 posted on 03/06/2015 7:16:13 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 33 | View Replies]

To: thackney

Personally, I’ve always thought just shooting it off into the sun was a good idea. Granted, you don’t want to be around if something goes wrong with the launch, but...


45 posted on 03/06/2015 7:19:39 AM PST by william clark (Ecclesiastes 10:2)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

Trouble is that volcano plumes move across the Earth’s surface and new ones form all the time, while long-dormant ones become active.


46 posted on 03/06/2015 7:29:25 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now it is your turn ...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: thackney
That is insulting.


"I didn't come here to be insulted!"
"No? Where do you usually go to be insulted?"

47 posted on 03/06/2015 7:30:39 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 44 | View Replies]

To: Alex Murphy

Thanks for your great contributions to the discussion.

God Bless


48 posted on 03/06/2015 7:34:09 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Buckeye McFrog

Here next to the Hanford Reservation they had the BWIP (basalt waste isolation project) that at the time was in competition against Yucca Mtn. They were essentially doing the deep bore hole testing but cancelled the project after they discovered an ancient fault line and the potential that if there ever was an earthquake it may have caused problems with the Columbia River.

Now their claiming the same thing at Yucca but no rivers are at risk.


49 posted on 03/06/2015 7:43:39 AM PST by shotgun
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: thackney

Yes. Nothing like staying on-topic in a thread to make a “great contribution” to it.


50 posted on 03/06/2015 7:44:56 AM PST by Utilizer (Bacon A'kbar! - In world today are only peaceful people, and the muzlims trying to kill them)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: Utilizer

I just accept take “Bump the Thread again” over nothing at all.

Cheers!


51 posted on 03/06/2015 8:11:23 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 50 | View Replies]

To: thackney

Can’t they keep reprocessing it until it is mostly inert?


52 posted on 03/06/2015 12:48:06 PM PST by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & Ifwater the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Alex Murphy

Martin Landau remains unimpressed!


53 posted on 03/06/2015 4:33:12 PM PST by T-Bone Texan (The time is now to form up into leaderless cells of 5 men or less.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Alex Murphy; Gamecock; F15Eagle

The Newmanium?


54 posted on 03/06/2015 4:51:47 PM PST by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido; F15Eagle; Alex Murphy
Sounds like a job for Kramerica Industries!
55 posted on 03/06/2015 5:16:22 PM PST by Gamecock (Joel Osteen is a minister of the Gospel like Colonel Sanders is an Infantry officer.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]

To: thackney
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.

One could make the same arguments for fraccing depths.

56 posted on 03/06/2015 5:38:49 PM PST by okie01
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: JimRed

The US does not allow reprocessing of nuclear fuel.

It should and other countries do.


57 posted on 03/07/2015 5:07:48 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-57 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson