Risk From Spent Nuclear Reactor Fuel Is Greater in U.S. Than in Japan
May 25th, 2011Via: New York Times:
The threat of a catastrophic release of radioactive materials from a spent fuel pool at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant is dwarfed by the risk posed by such pools in the United States, which are typically filled with far more radioactive material, according to a study released on Tuesday by a nonprofit institute.
The report, from the Institute for Policy Studies, recommends that the United States transfer most of the nation’s spent nuclear fuel from pools filled with cooling water to dry sealed steel casks to limit the risk of an accident resulting from an earthquake, terrorism or other event.
“The largest concentrations of radioactivity on the planet will remain in storage at U.S. reactor sites for the indefinite future,” the report’s author, Robert Alvarez, a senior scholar at the institute, wrote. “In protecting America from nuclear catastrophe, safely securing the spent fuel by eliminating highly radioactive, crowded pools should be a public safety priority of the highest degree.”
You can thank Obama for for this debacle. He’s the idiot that canceled the Yucca Mountain repository after we’re spent decades and $15 billion dollars on millions of research projects to make sure it was safe. He decided a “blue ribbon panel” to investigate other cheaper options in the future is safer. Impeach the stupid bastard- nobody should have or abuse that kind of power. http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20100304_8526.php
@steve holmes:
Don’t forget to thank Harry Reid while you are at it. He’s the flucking Senator from Nevada where Yucca Mountain is. Poot Harry Reid. He had to sell NOT depositing nuclear waste in Nevada to get re-elected. It was Harry Reid who cancelled Yucca.
Nuclear utilities in the U.S. have been charged a fee for YEARS that they have passed onto their customer’s as a “pay it forward” for the day when they were to place their fuel rods in Yucca Mountain. The logistics of moving the rods and how to store them has involved so much time, effort, scientific study, etc. that it blows my mind that the whole project revolves around whether it is a Democrat or Republican who is in the White House.
Yucca Mountain was FULL to capacity with the nuclear utility waste, nuclear Navy spent fuel, etc. etc. etc. even before it opened.
The Nuclear utilities paying these fees for years now have filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Dept. of Energy to recover all that the U.S. DOE has collected from them on the promise of safe storage for their spent nuclear fuel. Can you blame them?
Cancelling the Yucca Mountain Project, while not personally for nuclear energy at all, might have been the stupidest thing this administration has done in its brief tenure.
Shame, no science involved. IMHO just something done to ensure Harry Reid’s election.
In light of Fukashima and the unceasing “rain Down” of all the fallout on U.S. soil, SOMEONE should be feeling very ashamed and asking the gods for forgiveness.
I hope to my god its Harry Reid, but I doubt he has looked two steps forward and asked himself “what have I done?” with the closure of Yucca. That would be something if he did so and then just shut his mouth.
I’d hhave to do some serious relocation consideration if the nation’s nuclear repository was built in my state. They call that a risk assessment.
Been there and done that with Yucca Mountain. I think it is Harry Reid that should be going through a dark night of the soul with this one. Obama was just a pup – politically- and he was probably ignorant of the consequences of this stupid move by Harry Reid.
Lucky for you I have to log off, the useless, slow NOAHA alert radio I have just set off an another alarm. This is getting old already and its only May.