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On-Site Storage

Currently, all radioactive waste generated by U.S. reactors is stored at the reactor site - either in fuel pools or waste casks. However, the casks are currently security-vulnerable and should be "hardened" while a better solution continues to be sought.

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Sunday
Jul022017

1,800 tons of radioactive waste has an ocean view and nowhere to go

As reported by the Los Angeles Times.

The on-site storage of irradiated nuclear fuel at San Onofre, CA, and other permanently shut down and even decommissioned nuclear power plants, is a main focus of the article.

Thursday
May252017

US nuclear regulators greatly underestimate potential for nuclear disaster, researchers say

As reported by Physics.

Monday
Mar132017

Where Will The Waste From Palisades Nuclear Plant Go?

As reported by WMUK. Beyond Nuclear is quoted:

Without something like Yucca Mountain, Kevin Kamps of Beyond Nuclear worries that these dumps won’t be temporary at all:

“The current top target in the country is Andrews County in Texas which is 40 percent Latin American, a high percentage of low-income residents. So it’s a real environmental justice issue. And it could just get stuck there on the surface and this material can’t stay on the surface forever. If it ever gets out into the environment - and erosion, weatherization would do that over time - then it would be a radiological disaster.”

Moving nuclear waste across the country to these dumps could be risky too - which is why Kamps says he’s not in favor of places like Yucca Mountain either.

Monday
Mar062017

Spent Power Reactor Fuel: Pre-Disposal Issues

Robert Alvarez of the Institute for Policy Studies has prepared a power point presentation (click here for .pptx version; click here for .pdf version) re: the many costs, risks, and liabilities of irradiated nuclear fuel "interim storage" -- most to all of which, the public will be burdened with.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has acknowledged that highly radioactive irradiated nuclear fuel remains hazardous for a million years. Thus, it must be kept isolated from the living environment for that entire time period. Otherwise, a catastrophe would unfold. This applies to "interim storage," whether on-site (in pools or dry casks) at the atomic reactors where it was generated in the first place, as well as to away-from-reactor storage, and even permanent disposal, sites.

Friday
Nov252016

Pilgrim’s Progress: Inside the American Nuclear-Waste Crisis

As reported by Gregg Levine and Caroline Preston in The New Yorker.

The article discusses on-site storage of irradiated nuclear fuel, in indoor "wet" pools and outdoor dry casks, as at Entergy Nuclear's Pilgrim atomic reactor near Boston.

The article quotes Beyond Nuclear: One option is consolidated interim storage. Under this plan, the spent fuel would be moved from plants in thirty states to a handful of regional, aboveground storage facilities—what Kevin Kamps, a waste specialist at the watchdog Beyond Nuclear, has called “parking-lot dumps.”