So is the waste a potential ‘dirty bomb’ component?
Sorry I’m asking so many questions, but I was talking about nuclear power earlier, and was told a nuclear power plant could be built from star to finish in 7 years. That makes me wonder why we haven’t built any in so long.
Yes but the waste is so radioactive that it necessary to store the waste under at least sixteen feet of water to shield people from the radiation. If a person were to be exposed to unshielded spent fuel that person would receive a lethal dose in less than a second.
nuclear power plant could be built from star to finish in 7 years. That makes me wonder why we haven’t built any in so long..
After the Three Mile Island accident the Nuclear Regulatory Agency was formed from the former Atomic Energy Commission. The new agency’s only function was to ensure the safety of the public.
The NRC imposed many new requirements on the design and operation of nuclear power plants. Plants still under construction had to redesign many systems. That meant tearing out equipment already installed and installing new systems not in the original plant design.
Redesigning the plants already under construction inflated the price of the plants and extended construction times in some cases by 5 times. Many plants under construction were cancelled with more than 50% of construction completed (a couple more than 80%). Several nuclear utilities were bankrupted or forced to merge with other healthier utilities. Electric company deregulation is also linked to the price inflation of these nuc plants.
The new NRC also changed the rules with out any regard to added cost in relationship to increased safety. Many times increased cost was huge for infinitesimal increased safety.
The share holder owned utilities naturally were not willing to stick their hands in the meat grinder a second time until the regulatory environment improved.
New regulations were proposed for new nuclear power plant construction about 10 years ago that provided a one shot licensing scheme. During the first generation of plants the utility went to the NRC three times to get approval for a plant (siting permit, construction permit and operation license).
Under the new scheme a utility needs only to submit two applications a sighting permit and a combined construction and operating license. These new plants must be for plant designs already approved by the NRC. The applications being submitted recently are for new plants to be built on sites that already have nuclear plant on them and so the sites are already approved.
I think that new oil refineries will also not be built until the EPA changes their regulatory environment in a similar fashion.
I won’t even go in to the political environment as regards to Nuclear Power.