[Winona Online Democracy]
Burying radioactive waste under the ocean floor was considered by scientists before the Administration made the decision to dump the stuff in Yucca Mountain, according to publications by the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management of the United States Department of Energy. Potential leakage didn't seem to be a significant problem, at least according to the report. The reasons given for not choosing this method were that the waste might not be recoverable, that developing regulatory and monitoring methods would be "challenging," and that the international agreement on radio active waste, signed at the London Convention in 1993, which remains in force until 2018, bans such disposal. I'm sure we'll be hearing more about the plan in the future, however.
Other options studied and then rejected by scientists were:
1.. Leaving waste where it is. Rejected because of serious hazards to environment.
2.. Very deep hole (6 miles at least) disposal. Rejected because scientists did "not know enough about how radioactive waste would behave under the exceptionally high pressures and temperatures of very deep holes."
3.. Ice-sheet disposal. Rejected because of unknown effect of future climate changes, uncertain disposal and retrieval processes, expense, and the prohibition of disposal of radioactive waste on the Antarctic continent by the Antarctic Treaty of 1959.
4.. Island geologic disposal. Rejected because of risks associated with ocean transport, geologic structure that would allow water to penetrate underlying rock and cause corrosion, the possibility of earthquakes and volcanic activity on many islands, and potential of opposition from nearby countries even though the islands would be "remote."
5.. Deep-well injection disposal. Rejected because of the need for mechanical or chemical processing of the spent nuclear fuel prior to injection and the potential movement of liquid waste outside the porous rock formation.
6.. Space disposal. Rejected because of possibility of accident during launch and consequent potential for scattering of radioactive waste, the great number of launches that would be required, and the problems of establishing international agreements on how such a program would be operated and regulated.
Reprocessing, done by some nations now, was seen as a good possibility to reduce volume of nuclear waste, but will not eliminate it and produces high-level waste as a byproduct. A repository would still be needed. The Department of Energy "is currently involved in transmutation research and development, but it will be many decades before it could be used on a practical scale." So poor Yucca Mountain, a safe "geologic disposal" site, remains the target, "ultimately necessary" according to the Board of Radioactive Waste Management. Those interested in more details on the rationale for the Yucca Mountain Plan should check material from the Office I mentioned (some available on Web) as well as the report of the Board on Radioactive Waste Management, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences, "Disposition of High-Level waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel: The Continuing Societal and Technical Challenges" (National Academy Press). Look at the Department of Energy's "Why Yucca Mountain?" (http://www.ocrum.doe.gov/ymp/sr/brochure.pdf)
Roy Nasstrom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Duane Peterson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "mel rennells" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, January 19, 2005 1:41 PM Subject: RE: [Winona] Using Atomic energy
[Winona Online Democracy]
Why haven't we heard more of this in the main stream media? It sounds like
an ideal solution to the problems we now have with nuclear waste (Prairie
Island is still in casks).
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of mel rennells Sent: Tuesday, January 18, 2005 3:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [Winona] Using Atomic energy
[Winona Online Democracy]
In answer of how to solve the idea of global worming. President Bush is
suggesting the use of more Atomic Power plants. The only waste is radio
active. The next question is where do we put the waste.
I propose we dump it in the mid Atlantic or Pacific rift. It will be buried
beneath miles of ocean.
If you are worried about hurting the environment just do this. Design the
tank or container
to desolve or explode at 4 miles down. The radiation will desolve or spread
so it will be no problem . Please note by the time it reaches the surface
it will be deluted enough to be no problem. The advantage of this method is
it will not be around 10,000 years but will spread itself into the ocean
until the concentration will be minimal.
Mel Rennells Melvin & Mary Rennells 131 Oskamp Circle Winona MN 55987 home 507-454-1155 cel 507-458-7971 web www.hbci.com/~melr
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