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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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1 posted on 03/06/2015 5:23:26 AM PST by thackney
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To: thackney

Armies of geologists have studied this, and Yucca Mountain in Nevada is just about the ideal place to store this stuff. Provides the best geologic protection and gets less than an inch of rain per year.

Only problem is it can’t get by Harry Reid.


2 posted on 03/06/2015 5:27:32 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: thackney

Nope. Makes too much sense. Can’t do it.


3 posted on 03/06/2015 5:28:19 AM PST by ryan71 (Bibles, Beans and Bullets)
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To: thackney

Might discover oil in the process!


4 posted on 03/06/2015 5:30:22 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: thackney

We did, but she keeps climbing out. Nobody wants to et close enough to hog tie Pelosi before we try again...


5 posted on 03/06/2015 5:31:55 AM PST by MortMan (All those in favor of gun control raise both hands!)
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To: thackney

I would vote for dropping our nuclear waste from a plane over certain areas of the middle east....


6 posted on 03/06/2015 5:36:49 AM PST by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: thackney

I would vote for dropping our nuclear waste from a plane over certain areas of the middle east....


7 posted on 03/06/2015 5:36:49 AM PST by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: thackney

I would vote for dropping our nuclear waste from a plane over certain areas of the middle east....


8 posted on 03/06/2015 5:36:49 AM PST by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: kjam22

Holy cow.... I swear I only hit post one time!


9 posted on 03/06/2015 5:37:19 AM PST by kjam22 (my music video "If My People" at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74b20RjILy4)
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To: thackney
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.

It didn't work out so well for our moon sixteen years ago. What makes us think it'll work for the Earth?


10 posted on 03/06/2015 5:39:00 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: thackney

Godzira!


11 posted on 03/06/2015 5:39:38 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: Alex Murphy

Spinning off into space breaking the laws of physics and good taste doesn’t appeal very much to me. I’d love an eagle and a U shaped blaster though.


12 posted on 03/06/2015 5:41:58 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: central_va

That layer with Stahlman’s gas might be tapped and an inferno would begin.


13 posted on 03/06/2015 5:43:57 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: Alex Murphy
It didn't work out so well for our moon sixteen years ago.

What are you talking about?

14 posted on 03/06/2015 5:49:45 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney
"It didn't work out so well for our moon sixteen years ago."

What are you talking about?

Try doing the math.

15 posted on 03/06/2015 5:53:39 AM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: thackney

Even simpler, encase the waste in glass drums and sink them in the deepest parts of the ocean. There is plenty of sand to make the glass and no shortage of ocean depths.


16 posted on 03/06/2015 5:54:37 AM PST by Don Corleone ("Oil the gun..eat the cannoli. Take it to the Mattress.")
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To: Alex Murphy

What are you claiming happened in early 1999?


17 posted on 03/06/2015 5:57:13 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Alex Murphy
Try doing the math.


18 posted on 03/06/2015 5:59:02 AM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Don Corleone
Even simpler, encase the waste in glass drums and sink them in the deepest parts of the ocean. There is plenty of sand to make the glass and no shortage of ocean depths.

The "deepest parts of the ocean" is the Marianas Trench. That's a subduction zone, and anything you drop there is on it's way back into the Earth's mantle. You just have to keep it encased long enough to make the trip.

19 posted on 03/06/2015 6:00:07 AM PST by tacticalogic
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To: Alex Murphy

Why don’t you try explaining what you mean?


20 posted on 03/06/2015 6:03:09 AM PST by yldstrk
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