Nuclear expert quits Nevada dump panel

OC Register ^ | 1/1/03 | Associated Press

[NormsRevenge]

LAS VEGAS

[NormsRevenge]

The resignation over "conflict of interest" impediments aside, ,,

Should we use Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump ?

And does it really need to take 50 years to get anything done in this country that is so vital to its own well-being?

[Tijeras_Slim]

Worked in Yucca Mountain in 1997 on the drift heater test. You put stuff in there and seal it up, it's going to stay.

[USNBandit]

I live on the other end of the state and people are totally nuts about Yucca mountain. They freak out about nuclear waste, but don't seem to pay attention to the heavy metals and other poisons in the ground water.

Yucca Mtn. is going to happen, the state needs to make sure they get a lot of money for doing it. Make the road into Yucca Mtn. a super expensive toll road. That would be entertaining.

[Tijeras_Slim]

A lot of the protest about Yucca Mtn. is based on a law that reactor facilities can only store so much waste on-site before they have to shut down. Once shut down, the enviros can stall restarting them through environmental impact statements, court challenges, etc...

The longer they stall on Yucca, the more they can destroy the nuke power industry.

[NormsRevenge]

Closest I ever got to Yucca is Vegas. Yucca is about 100 miles away or so. It's not like Yucca Mountain will glow like Vegas at night. ;-)

I can't believe how damn long this whole process has been dragged on by "special interests" aka envirogroups.

I've worked with aboveground waste storage using steel casks years ago at a plant in Virginia.

No qualms FRom me ,, I say , let's fill Yucca up.

Folks don't realize how much varying levels of waste is stored locally now.

Of course, there are concerns about transporting waste from distant locations for storage.

Experience is the best proof of a method, we already use railways and trucks.

[NormsRevenge]

Yucca Ping

HaPPy NeW Year, farmFRiend!

[Tijeras_Slim]

The stuff going to WIPP passes near my house. But radiation is such a bogey-man to the agenda driven and ignorant.

Yucca Mtn is a gorgeous tunnel compared to the old HLOS stuff out at Area 12. Those were frequently wet. Nothing like being rained on 500 feet underground.

[NormsRevenge]

Low rainfall in the area seasonally.. That was one of the key reasons this place was picked, wasn't it? not to mention relative ease of construction and access yet it's still pretty remote?

Your point about the tunnel is a solid one. The pics and video I have seen of that place make it look like its drier than Aunt Fanny's FRuitcake. ;-)

Concerns about seismic events and flash floods are being hyped all to heck, imo.

[Tijeras_Slim]

The rainfall is pretty low. Also, it's remote, and given that its part of the Navada Test Site, the land isn't about to be used for much else. It is south and west of the old test areas of Frenchman's Flat and Yucca Flats. Also, due to the amount of nuclear testing at NTS, the area is exceptionally well known geologically and seismically. Anywhere in the west flash floods can be of concern, but how it's going to flood the tunnel is a mystery to me.

[farmfriend]

Rights, farms, environment ping.

Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from this list.
I don't get offended if you want to be removed.

[backhoe]

There's a better way than burying it- other countries have, for decades, recycled the stuff:

US Nuclear Power Debate
... The Bush administration also wants to explore new technology to recycle nuclear
fuel, increasing its efficiency and possibly reducing its danger. ...

Other info:

Numatec - the Tri-Cities' 'French connection'
... Numatec other parent is Cogema, the owner and operator of facilities used to produce
and recycle nuclear fuel, including many designed and built by SGN. ...

Nuclear Electricity
... gas equivalent). • Uranium offers a long-term source of energy. Unlike
fossil fuels, we can recycle nuclear fuel. We can recover ...

[MMA Alumni] Helping out MMA Nuclear Employed Alumni
... Many MMA Grads are employed in the Nuclear Power industry, ever since President Carter
killed the national plans to recycle nuclear fuel as was always intended ...

[PDF] U. S. Nuclear Waste Policy: Reaching Critical Mass
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... An Aside: Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Overseas In addition to the United States,
only two other countries don't recycle nuclear fuel as a matter of national ...

Salon.com Technology | Nukes now!
... Other countries, such as Japan and France -- which gets about 80 percent of its
electricity from nuclear power -- recycle nuclear fuel, but President Ford ...

[E.G.C.]

BTTT!!!!!!

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks kindly for the links. I'm downloading the pdf file..

Lots of good info to checkout on a rainy day in California, the state that should be energy self-sufficient but got screwed BigTime by the anti-nuke crowd and its own state gov't.

[backhoe]

California, the state that should be energy self-sufficient

The whole darn Country should be energy-independent. There's no excuse for us not using the vast coal and oil reserves we have offshore and on our own soil.

Not to mention nuclear. As annoying as the French are, they got one thing right- after the 1973 embargo, they launched the Super Phoenix program. As we should have done.

Happy New Year to you & yours!

[NormsRevenge]

I hear ya.. Let's hope the nuclear option is revived in the near term...

And Yup, even the FRench had a clue on this one... I just scanned some of that pdf .. mighty informative. Highly recommend folks take a gander, it's only 1.1~MB.


Jimmah Cartel .. The True "Nukular" President .. What a waste of an energy policy and a presidential term. ;-)


Happy New Year as well to you and yours!

[Atlas Sneezed]

A few thoughts:

What does France do with its nuclear waste?

Would it be moral to sell the waste to a 3rd world nation?

Is it moral to force it on a state with little political clout?

How about the feds offer states the chance to vie for the dump, with the carrot being the return of most non-military federal lands in the state back to state ownership?

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Revival ping!

[Willie Green]

Should we use Yucca Mountain as a nuclear waste dump ?

Yes, but most of the "waste" isn't actually "waste".
The bulk of it is depleted fuel that can be reprocessed and recycled.
We should also be pursuing these recycling technologies to significantly reduce the amount of "waste" that must be buried permanently at Yucca Mountain.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

It may come to that.