Regulators issuing draft report on Nevada nuclear dump plan
Source: Associated Press
A key study in a series leading to licensing hearings for the long-stalled Yucca Mountain national nuclear waste dump in Nevada finds what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is calling a small chance that radioactive contamination could get into the environment.
A Nevada state official said Friday he'll challenge the NRC findings about the proposed Yucca Mountain project on technical and legal grounds.
"They're saying that the impacts are small," Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects chief Bob Halstead said. "From my review of the document, I'm skeptical that they have complied with the requirement that they imposed on the Energy Department in 2008" to update an initial 2002 environmental impact report.
The commission announced Thursday that it'll post its draft supplement to the document, called the Yucca Mountain Environmental Impact Statement, on Aug. 21 in the Federal Register. It plans meetings next month in Maryland, Las Vegas and Nye County before issuing a final document early next year.
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Read more: http://www.pennenergy.com/articles/pennenergy/2015/08/regulators-issuing-draft-report-on-nevada-nuclear-waste-dump-plan.html
elleng
(130,964 posts)No sh*t, sherlock.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)From 1946 to 1970, the sea around the Farallones was used as a nuclear dumping site for radioactive waste under the authority of the Atomic Energy Commission at a site known as the Farallon Island Nuclear Waste Dump. Most of the dumping took place before 1960, and all dumping of radioactive wastes by the United States was terminated in 1970. By then, 47,500 55 gallon steel drum containers had been dumped in the vicinity, with a total estimated radioactive activity of 14,500 Ci. The materials dumped were mostly laboratory materials containing traces of contamination. Much of the radioactivity had decayed by 1980.
44,000 containers were dumped at 37°37?N 123°17?W, and another 3,500 at 37°38?N 123°08?W.
Location shown on graphic does not match the lat and lon given for the two dumping sites. Lat and lon actually are further west by about 9 nm which places both sites off the continental shelf. This significantly changes the potential effects on the fishery and makes any mapping and recovery effort much harder.
The exact location of the containers and the potential hazard the containers pose to the environment are unknown. Attempts to remove the barrels would likely produce greater risk than leaving them undisturbed.
Waste containers were shipped to Hunters Point Shipyard, then loaded onto barges for transportation to the Farallones. Containers were weighted with concrete. Those that floated were sometimes shot with rifles to sink them.
In January 1951, the highly radioactive hull of USS Independence was scuttled in the area.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farallon_Islands#Nuclear_waste_dump
ORjohn
(36 posts)Yucca Mountain is designed to hold the most highly radioactive waste from all the reactors in the US. The fuel rodsl stored in a very confined space, in dry storage has never been attempted to my knowledge and water seems scarce in the Nevada desert from my observations.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)Sitting on a marine terrace, spitting distance from the ocean and with an active earthquake fault nearby. I'm selfish, but I'd prefer the casks parked underground in Nevada.
Rods are stored in water for five to seven years until they 'cool' enough to be placed in dry storage coffins casks
squirecam
(2,706 posts)Keep your waste out of our state....tyvm
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)We'll transport the casks to the Sierra summit and roll them east. It may take five, or it may take ten, but they will ultimately make it to Nevada. NIMBY
ORjohn
(36 posts)Dry cask storage is not safe. safehttp://sanonofresafety.org/nuclear-waste/
Why did scientists create a problem they have no answer to? Why should our children's children be stuck with a mess not of their doing? I remember hearing Reagan saying solar doesn't work, ironically, at that time I was living in an off the grid home I built. We need bold leadership willing to think outside of the corptocracy box.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)and all the more reason to remove the casks from San Onofre and other populated areas. Yucca Mountain is far from the perfect solution, but is a damn sight better than what we have now.
squirecam
(2,706 posts)Its no solution.
the "screw Nevada bill" was not fair at the time and its isnt now. You want Nevada to take it? Negotiate in good faith and prove its safe. Or your state can volunteer to take it.
Brother Buzz
(36,444 posts)squirecam
(2,706 posts)(a) In general.The Secretary may not make an expenditure from the Nuclear Waste Fund for the costs of the activities described in paragraphs (4) and (5) of section 302(d) of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 (42 U.S.C. 10222(d)) unless the Secretary has entered into an agreement to host a repository with
(1) the Governor of the State in which the repository is proposed to be located;
(2) each affected unit of local government;
(3) any unit of general local government contiguous to the affected unit of local government if spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste will be transported through that unit of general local government for disposal at the repository; and
(4) each affected Indian tribe.
(b) Conditions on agreement.Any agreement to host a repository under this Act
(1) shall be in writing and signed by all parties;
(2) shall be binding on the parties; and
(3) shall not be amended or revoked except by mutual agreement of the parties.
_______________________________________________________________________________
This is NOT what occurred when Yucca was chosen. Google the "screw Nevada bill" for what actually happened. (or see below)
In 1987, Congress took the egregious step of short-circuiting a process established in the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act (P.L. 97-425) to study potentially suitable sites for a nuclear waste repository. The result was the federal government narrowed its search to only one site, Yucca Mountain in Nevada, based purely on political expediency rather than what was best for the health and safety of Americans.
Instead of honoring Nevadas persistent scientific and procedural objections to permanently storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, the federal government spent decades and wasted billions of dollars trying to design and permit a project without any rational hope of receiving Nevadas consent.
The NRC staff recently recognized this when the commission acknowledged that the federal government lacked the land and water rights needed to permit and build the repository. As a result, there is no path to licensing and building a repository at Yucca Mountain without Nevadas consent.
Right on! I'm sure downwinders agree as they will see the waste coming through their communities which had many victims from the Nevada Test Site nukes.
Sorry but another weakness of Yukka is also using 1000s of trucks and trains to move the waste to Nevada. They are "mobile Chernobyls." Trucks have leaked. Imagine when the rail lines have increased use from nuke waste. Consider the oil laden trains that have been derailing, can the system handle more toxic loads and greater traffic?
bananas
(27,509 posts)The main page:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/
Their "What's New" page is updated frequently:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/whatsnew.htm
ORjohn
(36 posts)The lies keep getting bigger at Yucca Mountain... I have been down in the hole there (3miles) and found numerous cracks leaking water which could cause greatly accelerated cask deterioration. The result could be a buildup of steam to the point of explosion blowing the mountain and highly toxic waste to who knows where. I testified in the late 1990s at a hearing that terrorist attacks on cask shipments by train or truck were a possibility that could leave huge " no man's land" ( or any life) areas in cities they pass through. The Gov. reply was it would be a negligible possibility. Perhaps under Washington DC would be the best place for a repository, guaranteeing politicians give a damn.
Picking Dem
(106 posts)Storing nuclear waste dump underneath the Capitol Hill sounds ideal - it's their mess, they can store it under all the bullshit.