Nuclear waste ‘could be stored in Sydney’, Senate told

The Federal Government’s nuclear agency has admitted there is no scientific reason why Australia’s radioactive waste could not continue to be stored in Sydney.

The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has told the Senate’s environment committee that the only reasons a remote site for a national radioactive waste dump is being sought in the Northern Territory are political.

The committee is reviewing Commonwealth legislation which overrides the Northern Territory’s power to stop a dump being built in the Territory.

Nuclear waste piles up in state

The Beaver Valley Power Station in Shippingport could run out of space for its low-level radioactive waste in two to five years.

A local university and hospital have changed their practices so they don’t have to keep radioactive isotopes on their campusesThe problem is that Pennsylvania, like 35 other states, no longer has a place to get rid of its low-level radioactive waste. That means anyone generating the material has to store it, at least temporarily, until a permanent site becomes available

Protests against the transport of nuclear waste

French and Deutschland protest against the transport of nuclear waste in Deutschland

Dealing With Nuclear Waste

While development of clean alternative fuels like solar and wind power should be a priority in any energy policy, none will support U.S. energy demands overnight. Currently, the U.S. depends on nuclear energy for 20 percent of its electrical power. That means that nuclear energy will have to continue to be a part of the U.S. landscape, and so will nuclear waste. The next president will have to develop a plan to deal with future waste and the over 60,000 tons of nuclear waste that already exists in America.

The latest in the Progressive Policy Institute’s (PPI) Memos to the Next President series, “America’s Nuclear Waste and What to Do with It,” calls on the next president to begin investing in options that can reduce and recycle nuclear waste, noting that benefits of nuclear energy are often outweighed by concerns over the waste produced. Authors Mark Ribbing and Bill Magwood point to France’s model of “reprocessing” that turns nuclear waste into reusable energy. You can read the whole Memo at http://www.ppionline.org/.

“America’s Nuclear Waste and What to Do with It” is the ninth in PPI’s ongoing Memos to the Next President series, a collection of policy prescriptions written directly to the next occupant of the White House so that he can hit the ground running on the problems facing Americans today. In this series, PPI experts propose solutions on issues ranging from economic growth to national security, which President-Elect Obama will confront as soon as he takes office.

In their Memo, Ribbing and Magwood lay out reasons to invest in nuclear waste recycling and research other options for nuclear waste:

Nuclear Waste Solution

Well. my friend, you seem to forget the three word problem: “THE CHALLENGER ACCIDENT”. This tragic accident watched by millions on their TVs or rebroadcasts, would have if it had been carrying Nuclear Waste, contaminated the entire globe. The space flight industry, while over 40 years old is still in it’s infancy, as far as that goes. Accidents are an everyday fact, granted they have been reduced. But an exploded launch, the space port irradiated and closed for at least ~250,000 years. By the time it was safe to use, it would be slightly (LOL) outdated. This is not the only accident in space fight has had the Challenger, upon re-entry spread debris across at lot of the US. Yes, the accident rate is too high to make it a possible solution to getting rid of Nuclear waste (IMHO) and backed by many scientists. To be a considerate solution, the Nuclear waste must be able to be retrieved, because one day we MAY find an actually solution to this problem.

The current solution is to stop producing nuclear waste. If the entire US was to provide their home and buildings with proper conservation measure, such as good installation, it wouldeliminate our present dependency on Nuclear Power. The latest figures ( I don’t have the references to cite) put our dependence on Nuclear Power at 15%, conservation measures would drop our entire bill (budget) by 15%.

The Problem of Nuclear Waste

I have followed the debate on storage of high level nuclear waste for some time. The discussions have been interminable — worse that the recently concluded US presidential campaign. The questions of safety for unimaginable terms were fascinating — especially how one would guarantee the isolation of the chosen site for many thousands of years. I think there are a number of problems with both the approach and indeed the whole concept:

1. The thesis that nuclear waste is a problem — the discarded components of nuclear fission will be releasing energy for a very long time. Somehow it seems that there is an opportunity here more than a problem. But it remains for some bright engineer to realize that this stuff could be a sustained power source and develop the technology to safely utilize it. I would not be the least surprised to find that in the future (probably long after I am with my ancestors) that our waste piles are being mined for resources.

2. That it is sensible to try and design structures that would outlast the entire history of human civilization. No civilization so far has lasted more than a few centuries before being replaced with a different way to organize society. Even China and Egypt changed over time. Nice idea but hugely expensive and no real way to prove one way or another — but I am sure that it was a nice cash stream for engineers and lawyers.

And of course, while the search for the ultimate answer was going on, the waste was simply accumulated at the generating nuclear plants — so there is a huge backlog to deal with.

Are there other options for storing nuclear waste?

With the economy in crisis and the Nevada budget in the red, there is renewed interest in the potential profits from the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump under construction near Las Vegas.

While the majority of Nevadans have rejected the proposal, some are wondering whether a deal with the government could ensure we don’t get “stuck with the dirty end of the stick.”

Frank Baglin, Professor of Chemistry with the University of Nevada, Reno, says Nevadans should make a deal with the government to build a reprocessing plant before nuclear waste is stored in their state.

“Reprocessing is cheaper than digging uranium out of the yard,” says Baglin, responding to comments made in Monday night’s Dunbar Report.

During the program, Dr. Ty Cobb, former Special Assistant for National Security in the Reagan administration, advocated that the state should drop its no compromise opposition and explore two alternatives: compensation from the federal government and a federal commitment to reprocess the waste that would eliminate 95 percent of the material.

“Cobb has a point,” Baglin said. “Other countries don’t have the same problems we have because they haven’t been dragging their feet.”

The non-profit group Public Citizen disagrees.

“Reprocessing does not get rid of all the waste and it is not economically sound,” says Director of the Energy Program at Citizen, Tyson Slocum. “Tax payers would pay for it and it requires massive subsidy. Reprocessing is messy with the risk of proliferation too high.”

Council explores nuclear waste option

COUNTY councillors are to vote on whether to “express an interest” in the formal government process to find a location for a deep geological nuclear waste repository in Cumbria.

A recommendation suggesting the move will be debated by Cumbria County Council’s cabinet next Tuesday.

Officials say that expressing an interest “without commitment” would allow the county council to discuss the best solution with the Government for disposing of higher level radioactive waste, but would not involve any commitment that Cumbria would eventually host an underground repository.

This move follows a ‘soundings’ process already carried out by the county council, where the views of local partners and key stakeholders have been canvassed on whether the county council should express an interest. That soundings process revealed substantial support for county council engagement with the government’s programme to site a geological disposal facility.

A nuclear waste repository would have major implications for the whole of Cumbria so the county council is keen to express intent and take full part in the debate as well as working with other stakeholders

Coun Tim Knowles, Cumbria County Council’s cabinet member responsible for nuclear issues, said: “Next week’s decision is an important one, but I must stress that we’re not making any commitments that Cumbria is the right place to have a nuclear waste repository. That decision can only be made after thorough community consultation and a long process of looking at any proposal in far more detail.

Nuclear Waste Center of U.S. District 2 Race

Congressman Jim Matheson says his opponent’s views on nuclear waste are now crystal clear after a debate on Tuesday. But Bill Dew’s Campaign says he wasn’t given enough time to clarify his remarks. Matheson says it was the first time he heard his opponent say he’s in favor of bringing foreign nuclear waste to Utah.

“My opponent seems to think it’s OK to bring radioactive waste in from foreign countries and have it here in Utah. I completely disagree,” Matheson says. “It’s the first time I’ve really heard him take that position. And so this is just a, to me, a defining issue that shows that we’re very different on something, where I’m pretty sure that most people in Utah agree with me that we shouldn’t be bringing that waste here.”

In fact, the Governor, an eight-state regional oversight compact and a record number of Utahns came out against importing foreign nuclear waste. But in the KSL-TV debate, Dew said the foreign waste is so low level, he has no problem with a proposal to store it at the Energy Solutions facility in Tooele County.

Dew’s General Consultant, Alan Crooks says the Republican candidate didn’t get a chance to clarify his statements. Crooks says the candidate thinks importing foreign waste is a states’ rights issue and the federal government shouldn’t get involved.

“We need to rework the system and we need to respect the state’s rights in doing it, and we need to use the proven technology of recycling nuclear waste, which is used other places in the world and proven to be safe here in the United States,” Crooks says. “We’re behind on that. And that’s from a lack of leadership in Congress.”

Nuclear waste

Most of the nation has nowhere to send its low-level nuclear waste. It can’t stop producing this waste. It’s necessary for diagnosing and treating cancer and other diseases, and for research. But because there is nowhere to send the waste, it piles up in hospitals, other medical facilities and research centers.

It’s an illustration of our nation’s inability to deal realistically with nuclear issues.

Most of this waste used to be sent to South Carolina to the Barnwell Low-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Facility. It was the first such facility in the country when it began receiving radioactive waste in 1971. It is just one of three in the nation today.

On July 1, a new policy took effect: The Barnwell facility takes waste only from South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey.

The problem isn’t South Carolina’s fault. States were supposed to build their own low-level nuclear waste facilities or form compacts to handle the waste. In 2002, Florida joined three other Southern states suing North Carolina for its failure to build a low-level waste facility there. The matter is still in litigation.

The same process has been repeated all over the nation. States have been unable to build low-level waste sites because citizens oppose them. But those citizens still want tests for breast cancer and radiation therapy for their brain tumors. The result is unsafe storage of nuclear waste within population centers. ..

The (Lakeland, Fla.) Ledger

Afghanistan

The latest price that America is paying for the Bush administration’s blunder in going to war in Iraq is Afghanistan falling back into the hands of the Taliban, who host al-Qaida.

After careful study, U.S. intelligence agencies have concluded that the government set up by the United States in Afghanistan, after U.S. forces collaborated with the Northern Alliance to drive out the Taliban, is now on the ropes. According to New York Times reporters who have talked with U.S. government officials, the National Intelligence Estimate is very clear on that.