US Stores Spent Nuclear Fuel Rods at 4 Times Pool Capacity

[JBeukema]

In a recent interview with The Real News Network, Robert Alvarez, a nuclear policy specialist since 1975, reports that spent nuclear fuel in the United States comprises the largest concentration of radioactivity on the planet: 71,000 metric tons. Worse, since the Yucca Mountain waste repository has been scrapped due to its proximity to active faults (see last image), the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission has allowed reactor operators to store four times more waste in the spent fuel pools than they’re designed to handle.

US Stores Spent Nuclear Fuel Rods at 4 Times Pool Capacity | Dissident Voice

 

[Mr. H.]

Pasta. Lots of pasta.

 

[Old Rocks]

Of course, there is absolutely no chance of a major unforeseen disaster happening here.

 

[martybegan]

Of course, there is absolutely no chance of a major unforeseen disaster happening here.

I find it comical that people complain about overstorage of spent fuel rods when the government did have a plan, but the plan was basically scrapped due to regional issues, NIMBY/BANANA and pavlovian "NUCLEAR IZ BADZ" responses.

Guess what? If you look hard enough you will find geological faults just about everywhere. They are the equivalent of a doctor calling any unknown mark on your skin a "spider bite".

 

[Skull Pilot]

If we would get our heads out of our asses and recycle nuclear fuel, we could reduce the amount stored by 95%

But some idiots in DC passed a law banning the recycling of nuclear fuel.

 

[JBeukema]

Skull, can you cite your source for that '95%'?

 

[Ropey]

America does recycle it.

Into case hardened military hardware missile responses.

It's a "let our enemies deal with the radiation" kind of thinking which takes time as one can only deal with so many wars at a time.

 

[konradv]

Certainly more worrisome than the relatively small amount of mercury in CFLs.

 

[Skull Pilot]

Skull, can you cite your source for that '95%'?

There Is No Such Thing as Nuclear Waste - WSJ.com

A nuclear fuel rod is made up of two types of uranium: U-235, the fissionable isotope whose breakdown provides the energy; and U-238, which does not fission and serves basically as packing material. Uranium-235 makes up only 0.7% of the natural ore. In order to reach "reactor grade," it must be "enriched" up to 3% -- an extremely difficult industrial process. (To become bomb material, it must be enriched to 90%, another ballgame altogether.)

So is this material "waste"? Absolutely not. Ninety-five percent of a spent fuel rod is plain old U-238, the nonfissionable variety that exists in granite tabletops, stone buildings and the coal burned in coal plants to generate electricity. Uranium-238 is 1% of the earth's crust. It could be put right back in the ground where it came from.

Of the remaining 5% of a rod, one-fifth is fissionable U-235 -- which can be recycled as fuel. Another one-fifth is plutonium, also recyclable as fuel. Much of the remaining three-fifths has important uses as medical and industrial isotopes. Forty percent of all medical diagnostic procedures in this country now involve some form of radioactive isotope, and nuclear medicine is a $4 billion business.

We could actually recycle more than 95% of all spent nuclear fuel. France has been doing it for decades and all of their unusable nuclear waste generated over the last 3 decades is stored under the floor in one room of La Hague.

We are truly missing the boat because of our short sightedness and baseless fears.

 

[Jos]

America does recycle it.

Into case hardened military hardware missile responses.

It's a "let our enemies deal with the radiation" kind of thinking which takes time as one can only deal with so many wars at a time.

A modern day salting the earth? Salting the earth - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Ropey]

More salting to come I would think.



By the way, neg for your continued trolling of me with your sig.

 

[Jos]

deal with it self admitted liar

 

[Ropey]

deal with it self admitted liar

LOL and you have never lied in your life.

Fool.