Nuclear Waste Dumpsters in Massachusettes Are Costing Taxpayers a Fortune

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/01/31/these-dumpsters-old-nuclear-waste-are-costing-you-billions/lw7aIpcWOhmn3ThjeqEnVP/story.html

by mimixco • 7 years ago

46 19 7 years ago

bostonglobe.com

sandworm1012• 7 years ago

There are so many layers this article has missed. That "waste" is also viewed by some as a resource, a repository of potential material for weapons. So it cannot be put somewhere out of reach. There has also been progress in deep-drill disposal options. It could be placed a few miles down from where it is now, in bedrock that will one day melt back into the earth. Drill a really deep hole (many miles) cement it over and forget about it. But that means we wouldnt be able to get at it later.

zunzun2• 7 years ago

I don't see any mention of solar waste.

mikeash• 7 years ago

There’s a lot of solar waste. The manufacturing process produces it, and the cells don’t last forever so after 20-30 years, they become waste too. (Not arguing against solar power, I’m very much in favor, but that’s just how it is.)

Paradoxically, nuclear waste gets a lot of attention because there’s so little of it. It’s a small enough problem for people to pay attention to. Far bigger waste problems are ignored because they’re too hard to think about.

trimbo• 7 years ago

Here ya go

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelshellenberger/2018/05/23...

nkurz2• 7 years ago

This sounds plausible, but I haven't previously heard of this being something that affects current policy. Do you have any sources you could point to that would defend the theory that a safe permanent disposal is being overlooked because it doesn't allow for future retrieval?

erentz2• 7 years ago

It’s only useful for dirty bomb style weapons that a terrorist might make. You can’t make weapons grade plutonium from it. All plutonium used in US weapons was made in special purpose reactors at Hanford, WA. We made so much of it and have enough stockpiled to build all the bombs we’d ever need that we shut down the production there in 1987.

It may be a useful resource for other types of nuclear plants though.

Ideally we could bury this really deep (as you propose) and forget about it. Or buy out Nevada’s opposition and reopen Yucca.

cladari• 7 years ago

Spent fuel can be repossessed into weapons grade material and into commercial fuel. Europe, Russia and Japan all reprocessed spent fuel into commercial fuel.

owenversteeg• 7 years ago

All plutonium used in US weapons was made in special purpose reactors at Hanford, WA

Do you have a source for that? Wikipedia says "the majority" of the US arsenal, but the source is hidden behind a NYT subscriber paywall (article is from 1987.)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site#Cold_War_expansio...

dj_gitmo• 7 years ago

I think they're pretty clear in the article that the problem is that there is no centralized place to ship the waste. Having it sit out in the open where it needs constant security, next to a plant that close decades ago, is the sign of a political failure.

They keep trying to put it in Nevada, but Nevadans aren't having it. They don't trust the federal government after being lied to about the dangers of the open-air atomic bomb testing that they carried out in the 1940s and 50s.

I understand storage and bomb testing are not equivalent, but I don't blame Nevadans for being skeptical. The government should look someplace else at this point.

sandworm1012• 7 years ago

With deep drilling (bore hole disposal) it can often be disposed of in situ, eliminating the need for transport and centralized storage.

kuhhk• 7 years ago

I think they're pretty clear in the article that the problem is that there is no centralized place to ship the waste.

We've been trying to solve this problem for years, but they're being contested and underfunded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_Isolation_Pilot_Plant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_r...

anticensor• 7 years ago

Massachussetts is misspelt in the title.

nkurz2• 7 years ago

Are you sure? I think it's right...

  MASSOCHEICHI! - Doesn't sound right to me!
  MAKKAKOKO - That's way too many K's
  It should mass-achoose, 
  like the "mass" in "mass produce"
  but without "produce"

https://youtu.be/JvUMV1N7eGM?t=160

AngryData• 7 years ago

Lack of reprocessing plants, lack of real storage facilities, these are political failures that have more to due with our government being a shit storm more than anything. Most every problem with nuclear power and nuclear waste has a known solution, but nobody is willing to fund it, nobody is willing to host the facilities, no politician even wants to say the word nuclear.

Nuclear Waste Dumpsters in Massachusettes Are Costing Taxpayers a Fortune

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