Nuclear waste

• ptown_trojans_1

  

  When the administration came in, they wanted to halt all expansion of the Yucca Mountain site in Nevada, where we would store our nuclear fuel. This sat well with Harry Reid, who has killed the idea since he took over as Senate leader.
  
  But, now the problems are mounting on what to do with the spent fuel/ waste that was supposed to go into Yucca? Some of the fuel goes back to the Manhatten project. The adminsitration has no plan, instead set up a board a good one, headed by cochairmen Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, and Lee Hamilton, former Indiana congressman and member of the 9/11 Commission.
  
  In fact, Washington state, home of the Hanford waste site, is suing the federal government as they thought the waste would be gone by now.
  http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-04-14/washington-sues-to-revive-yucca-mountain-nuclear-waste-plan.html
  
  The board visited Hanford and talked with people there yesterday, coming to the conclusion that for now, the waste shall remain there.
  http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/07/15/1264466/blue-ribbon-commission-sees-hanford.html
  
  The issue is now a hot potato as expected, states do not want the waste in their state. The decision to end Yucca was an awful one in my view, as the administration did not offer a solution on what to do with the waste, and now we have a huge backlog of what to do with it.
  
  Nuclear power is great and I'm all for expanding it, but until we find a solution to where to store the waste, we are not making it safe for future generations.
  
  On a side note, Yucca can still be revived, if Harry Reid loses and the state of Nevada get pressure to open up Yucca for fuel. But, that would take years.
• I Wear Pants

  New, more reliable space shuttle replacement + shoot it at the sun = goat plan.
• sjmvsfscs08

  I Wear Pants;424311 wrote:New, more reliable space shuttle replacement + shoot it at the sun = goat plan.

  
  This would be terrific, but you'd hate this see what happens should it explode in the atmosphere. Good God it would be nasty.
• I Wear Pants

  sjmvsfscs08;424319 wrote:This would be terrific, but you'd hate this see what happens should it explode in the atmosphere. Good God it would be nasty.

  Then we get to live in Fallout/The Road. Just as awesome.
• believer

  

  ptown_trojans_1;424307 wrote:Nuclear power is great and I'm all for expanding it, but until we find a solution to where to store the waste, we are not making it safe for future generations.

  First, the BHO Administration's policy on this is pure appeasement politics. They are beholden to the environmental far left.
  
  Second, the Nevada site simply makes good sense. We need nuclear power and we need somewhere to store the waste. What real harm is there to storing material in an area that is not likely to be used for human needs (except of course the storage of nuclear waste) as long as the site is carefully monitored and properly maintained?
  
  The environmentalist wackos need a reality check.
• sjmvsfscs08

  believer;425815 wrote:Second, the Nevada site simply makes good sense. We need nuclear power and we need somewhere to store the waste. What real harm is there to storing material in an area that is not likely to be used for human needs (except of course the storage of nuclear waste) as long as the site is carefully monitored and properly maintained?

  
  This. Nuclear Energy isn't perfect, but it's the best in my opinion. I believe I posted this before but this was a conversation I had with a environmentalist wacko on a UT field trip (colleges do that?!) while driving passed Davis-Besse.
  
  HER: Can you believe they store all of the nuclear waste they've ever made on-site! How ridiculous and unsafe!!!
  
  ME: How long has Davis-Besse been around?
  
  HER: I don't know, like thirty years.
  
  ME: Well there can't be too much of it if they're still storing it on-site, can there be?
  
  HER: ........................
• believer

  

  ^^^That's classic!
  
  France, for example, is a country of leftists yet a majority of their electrical energy needs is done via nuclear power plants. If France has far fewer nuclear waste disposal options than the United States but is populated by liberals that make American liberals look like fascist Nazis, how is it they seem to have been able to come to terms with the use of nuclear energy...and nuclear waster?
• Swamp Fox

  I'm not sure where Ohio ranks currently in the amount of nuclear waste being stored within it's borders, but at one time we were second nationally. The only State that used to be ahead of us was New Jersey. And they say no one visits Ohio anymore? truck drivers and train engineers used to come here regularly with loads of waste to dispose of. I doubt that those old statistics still hold up with regard to the State rankings, but it is a little alarming to know that we were that high on the list. I suppose that the waste has to go somewhere and as long as it is safely disposed of, it really doesn't matter, but it's not entirely comfortable either...particularly if you are an Ohio resident.
• believer

  

  ^^^All the more reason we need a national nuclear waste disposal site safely tucked away in the vast Nevada desert mountains where it can do little or no harm.
• Swamp Fox

  I would agree with you, believer. Of course, then you'd have the residents of Nevada upset about the presence of this huge nuclear waste site in their State. I used to teach a unit on issues involved in nuclear policy and disposal, of course, was a key issue then ( Late 1960's through the 70's) just as it is now.
• believer

  

  ^^^I'm sure it would upset Nevada residents...until the Feds show them the $$$$$$$.
  
  Seriously though, I spent some time in the desert southwest (El Paso to be exact) and there are plenty of places that could be used for nuclear waste storage that will never, ever be used for anything of human consequence. These sites would be far enough away from populated areas and not likely to be a problem with things like water tables, snail darters, or spotted owls.
• Mr. 300

  

  No way we can subject mother earth to the poisons that this energy creates. We must stop this insanity and find other sources of energy. The world can not be the garbage can for nuclear energy.
• sjmvsfscs08

  To be fair, I was under the impression that France paid Russia to take their waste and "dispose" of it.
  
  And Ms. 300 I hope you don't really believe that. Your first step to sanity would be to stop personifying "mother" earth and realize there are millions of square miles of barren earth people will never need. Of course, we could refer back to strip mines and smoke-pumping refineries. Yeahhhhh mother earth loves that situation now....
• I Wear Pants

  Swamp Fox;426398 wrote:I'm not sure where Ohio ranks currently in the amount of nuclear waste being stored within it's borders, but at one time we were second nationally. The only State that used to be ahead of us was New Jersey. And they say no one visits Ohio anymore? truck drivers and train engineers used to come here regularly with loads of waste to dispose of. I doubt that those old statistics still hold up with regard to the State rankings, but it is a little alarming to know that we were that high on the list. I suppose that the waste has to go somewhere and as long as it is safely disposed of, it really doesn't matter, but it's not entirely comfortable either...particularly if you are an Ohio resident.

  
  We also have a ton of landfills because of all the clay we have in the soils in some areas of the state.
  
  Yeah for being a national dumping ground.
• ptown_trojans_1

  

  I'm in pretty much agreement with much of this thread and would add the Washington Post had an Editorial asking the administration to take another look at Yucca.
  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/18/AR2010071802520.html?wpisrc=nl_headline