[ RadSafe ] " Radioactive cocktail: Blending waste may eliminate the danger "

[HOWARD.LONG at comcast.net]

Only LNT (flat earth) believers can support, "Only time, and we're
talking centuries, can render nuclear waste benign." (below).

Indeed, the solution to pollution may be dilution.
"A+B+C=A" is not proposed, as I understand it.

First, consider landfill of domestic trash.
When large amounts of dirt or cement waste from construction is mixed with 
vegetable matter waste, the mix makes better topsoil immediately, than either alone.

Next, consider radiation waste (which could be better described by most of you than by me).
Does dilution make a damaging dose of radiation unlikely, (with unauthorized digging)?
That depends on acceptance of hormesis - possible benefit, rather than  teratogenesis or cancerfrom the smaller dose.

Sell hormesis, to get more nuclear power!

Howard Long 

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: "Jaro" <jaro-10kbq at sympatico.ca> 

> Presumably this will affect all sorts of Rad users ? 
> 
> Jaro 
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
> 
> 
> http://www.sltrib.com/ci_9756721 
> Radioactive cocktail: Blending waste won't lessen the danger 
> Tribune Editorial 
> Article Last Updated: 07/01/2008 05:37:06 PM MDT 
> 
> 
> Officials from our nation's nuclear power industry have devised a magical 
> mathematical formula that miraculously transforms dangerous Class B and 
> Class C nuclear waste into less-ominous Class A waste. Anxious to dispose of 
> their radioactive garbage, they pitched the proposal to the federal Nuclear 
> Regulatory Commission last week. 
> Now, all it will take is a few foolish strokes of the rule-writing pen 
> at the NRC, and the industry will be allowed to mix waste from each category 
> to achieve a blend that qualifies as Class A. That, in turn, would open the 
> door for disposal of hotter waste at EnergySolutions' radioactive waste 
> landfill in Tooele County, circumventing a Utah law that prohibits the more 
> dangerous waste classifications. 
> The trouble is, the formula defies the associative property of 
> mathematics, the laws of science and the canons of common sense. The only 
> way to make A + B + C = A is to remove B and C from the equation. 
> Simply put, dilution is not the solution to pollution. No matter how you 
> mix it, or how long you stir, the nature of the materials won't change. The 
> Class B waste in the mix will still be hazardous for 300 years, and the 
> Class C waste will still be hazardous for 500 years. Only time, and we're 
> talking centuries, can render nuclear waste benign. 
> Federal regulators need to see through the facade. The industry's 
> proposal, an act born of desperation, is nothing 
> more than a way to foist hotter waste on Utah, a state where the Legislature 
> has wisely banned all but Class A waste, which is considered safe after 100 
> years. 
> Obviously, after South Carolina this week closed the last remaining 
> Class B and C waste depository available for 36 states, the nuclear power 
> industry needs another place to toss its trash. And once again, the 
> radioactive waste facility within our bounds, and the profit-driven private 
> company that operates it, have proven to be attractive nuisances. 
> Congress needs to move quickly to solve the problem and establish a 
> national disposal site for all radioactive waste. Until that happens, 
> nuclear power plant operators can store their poison at the plants that 
> produce them. 
> Utah lawmakers and Gov. Jon Huntsman need to monitor this situation very 
> closely, and let their opinions be known. And should the NRC opt to rewrite 
> the rules to allow blending, the state Legislature should quickly rewrite 
> the law to ban blended waste from the state. 
> 
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