Smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

[Madhatterat60]

Holding Tank:
Nuclear waste lingers in dry-cask storage at the Idaho National Laboratory. More than 60,000 metric tons of nuclear waste are in temporary storage at 131 civilian
and military sites around the country.

For those of you who don't know, I grew up in the shadow of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state.  My father worked at Hanford as an electrcian for all of my life.  I don't glow in the dark, nor do my brother or sisters, nor any of their kids.  (My youngest does have MS.  The area around Hanford has 25% more cases of MS than any other similar population base.)

I see the press is now on to begin building nuclear power reactors again.  Frankly, I have only one request before the first shovel of dirt is removed:

Figure out what you're going to do with the waste.

It isn't enough to bury it in the ground, either at Yucca Mountain or in the salt caves.  This waste MUST be kept from exposure for 25,000 years.  Keeping in mind that the last ice age was scarcely 14,000 years ago, that makes burying this toxic mess anywhere on earth a real crap shoot.  So go ahead, plan, set land aside...but figure out what you'll do with the garbage FIRST.

[John Turberville]

Shoot it into deep outer space and hope nothing happens on the way.

[Lawrence Bates]

John, economical disposal of long half life nuclear waste by sending it either into space, or into the furnace of the Sun, is a very lowtech possibility at the present time. Much more economical than manned shuttle missions.
Unfortunately under the Obama administration, it aint gonna happen. The only thing that Democratically controlled congressional action has done is cut NASA budgets. Our current administration has also forced budget cuts.

[cynthia Hunter]

I thought the only thing Obama cut fromw NASA was the return to the moon. Am I wrong about that?

[Lawrence Bates]

"You think that shiphoning off 53 M gallons (204,000 cubic meters) of highly radioactive nuclear waste from Hanford, is more economical than manned shuttle missions? and that's just one out of dozens of sites in the US (as significant as it may be)."

Pac, I didn't include the cost of "siphoning off" the waste, since it has to be done before the waste can be dealt with by any scheme, unless you're going to just go to Hanford and drink it.


"Let's do some back of the envelope calculations. Cost per 1lb (taking the cheapest source: soviet, unmanned rockets) is about $7K. Let's make it simple, and assume it's water, it will be $3.1 Trillion. Since it's nuclear waste, we're looking at roughly 4.8 B Lbs, at a cots of roughly $34 Trillion. This is Hanford alone."

Don't take the cheapest possible scource, pac, just restore NASA's budget and make it a National priority. Then NASA will be the cheapest. (you guys are so big on shipping jobs overseas.)
Don't assume it's water - it's radioactive waste. Treat it and concentrate it, then what American industry doesn't want for various purposes can be shot off. A large capacity, one use dumptruck vehicle can be developed from present and even outmoded technology very reasonably and safely.

"Did you say you want to send it to the Sun, sorry, but the cost just went up an order of magnitude."

You really don't understand much about physics, do you? After achieving much over orbital velocity, it's all downhill to the Sun. No more energy input needed, no return trip to worry about. You shouldn't toss big numbers that you don't understand about, so far this administration is unaware that there is anything bigger than trillions. Lets keep it that way, shall we?

"How did you manage to implicate the President in this?"

If you read what I posted accurately, you'll see that I implicated democratic controlled congressional action, all that I said about Obama is that he ain't gonna fix it.

http://usgovinfo.about.com/b/2009/06/11/nasa-budget-cut-by-congress...

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/seti_culberson_060316.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/8966301

[Lawrence Bates]

Actually Lawrence, it's a little bit more than that. The waste is put through a process, that turns it into glass-like rods/pellets (depending on the type of process). That makes it weight more.”

The encapsulation process, whether it be ceramic, the more modern titanium, Zirconium or Halide processes, are specifically for the purpose of locking up the waste in a form that will be mechanically stable over many millennia, for purposes of safe storage. You are correct in stating that this adds weight to the aggregate amount of waste. However, you err in supposing that this level of stabilization is necessary to just launch it out of orbit, whether to the Sun or just away from Earth.
You also err in your inclusion of all levels of radioactive waste in your argument. There is no apparent need to remove low level nuclear waste from the planet. 95% of low level nuclear waste decays to background levels in 100 years or less.

“"We" guys are big on shipping jobs overseas? care to explain? Start with who the "you" are, and what jobs we're exporting overseas.”

The “you” I refer to are “one worlders” from both political parties who, with good reason, believe that the only way to usher in a warm fuzzy world government, is to paralyze America’s main source of strength, her technical and industrial might. An accurate reading of your cut and paste will show you that I haven’t said anything about you, personally exporting any jobs overseas, only that you are big on the Idea.

“I actually was not talking about NASA Lawrence. I was talking about commercial, for-profit, competitive launch operations.”

You were talking about Unmanned Soviet rockets and shipping that work overseas also.

“Geez, I wonder why no has thought about this yet. Yes, I guess we can open up the tanks, ship it out to Wenatchee, and run it through the same plant that turns apple juice into concentrate. Here's a hint Lawrence: read my first paragraph above, on how this is done. Due to the process that created the sludge, it cannot be "recycled". Only fuel designed for super-breeder plants, can be "re-used", and I use the term loosely.”

I’ll ignore most of your drivel about Wennatchee and apple juice. I don’t believe that anywhere in the industry you will find any waste classified as “sludge”. The classifications are High level waste (spent fuel rods etc) and low level waste which, once again is not our subject here. The term “recycled”, which you are erroneously defining as the process used in breeder reactors, means..... well here is a link that explains in layman’s language, what the term means.

http://www.nei.org/resourcesandstats/nuclear_statistics/nuclearwast...

Well, I’d like to continue this, but it’s time for my beauty sleep(I keep hoping it will work), so I’ll sign off at this point.

[Lawrence Bates]

Pac, it seems I don’t know what I thought I knew. I’m learning though.

[CWO3ROBBIE]

Lawrence, You point out that at the current time, sending nuclear waste into the sun is relatively lowtech. Therefore it should also be relatively lowcost.
I don't agree with cutting funding for the space program, but think you are mixing apples and oranges. If we already have the capability to do that why don't we let companies that are capable of managing such a program compete for the contract to do it? Maybe we could give companies like Florida Power and Light the right to build nuclear power plants and charge the consumers enough to fund the disposal by rocket. That could be a separate contract.Then maybe part of the contract competition could be for a contract to supervise and regulate the operation of the disposal of the waste material. Of course, I still think we should be able to store it somewhere like Yucca Mountain. Why don't you republicans focus on getting something done instead of trying to block everything that will help the rank and file. I've worked at the upper level of a corporation. I can assure you that making a profit has the highest priority. You find very few patriots at the upper level of large companies. There are a few, but most became interested in doing something for the country after they made their money. Ross Perot is one of the few who would put the country above profit and you see what the other corporate managers at GM did to him.

[Lawrence Bates]

Robbie, I'm surprised at you! That sounds like(GASP!) capitalism and free enterprise.

[cynthia Hunter]

Dang it! What's this world cooming to twice in one day I agree with a NF!
All joking aside they do need to figure out what they are going to di with the waste.
I still worry about health issuse of those who live around such a plant. We have one about 40 miles from us and water that they use to cool the plant goes into the lake near by in which everybody swims.(The water is always warm) it make me nervous. I took my kids there a few times but the more I thought on it I just couldn't take them there anymore.

[John Turberville]

Last I heard there isnt an approved disposal for those "hybrid car" batteries

[Madhatterat60]

on the other hand...there aren't (one would hope) ten MILLION gallons of hybrid car batteries awaiting disposal as there are high level nuclear waste at Hanford.

[Bull]

The majortity of hybrid car batteries can and should be recyled.