AW: [ RadSafe ] The world's first permanent disposal site for used nuclear fuel will be at Forsmark, Sweden's SKB announced today.
George Stanford
gstanford at aya.yale.edu
Thu Jun 4 18:45:55 CDT 2009
Franz & All:
Thanks to Bjorn Cederval for the additional
info. At one of the sites
(<http://www.thelocal.se/19824>)
there is this:
>"The Swedish technique consists of storing
>two tonnes of spent fuel in copper-coated
>canisters that weigh 25 tonnes each.
>
>"Each canister is welded shut using a special
>technique and then mechanically deposited in
>a tunnel in the repository.
>
>"A buffer of bentonite clay, a volcanic ash that
>when mixed with water swells to provide a
>watertight barrier and protect against
>earthquakes, is then injected to fill the hole in
>the rock.
>
>"'The canisters are buried several metres apart
>so he rock can absorb the heat generated by the
>radioactive materials in each copper canister.'
>Engholm explains.
>
>"Once a tunnel in the repository is full, the tunnel is
>filled in with a mixture of bentonite and rock."
It does not appear that ease of retrievability is
one of the design requirements.
-- George
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 01:39 PM 6/4/2009, George Stanford wrote:
Franz:
If the decision makers in Sweden were aware
of the points that I listed, they would not be
emulating the mistake the US has made with Yucca
Mountain. They would instead, in my opinion, be
going with temporary surface storage (the route
the US now seems to be taking in its bumbling
efforts to accommodate ill-informed political
pressures), pending the implementation of fast
reactors.
I don't agree that lack of awareness of fast-
reactor capability makes people "idiots." It
merely means that they are uninformed (and it's our
fault). But IF the used fuel will indeed be easily
retrievable, that would be at least a partial
vindication. All I know is what the article said:
"buried in clay," "isolated for 100,000 years."
You seem to be just assuming that "surely they
would not be so dumb as to make it inaccessible."
I hope you are right. Can you refer us to any
official confirmation that your supposition is
correct?
And your remarks about the sad US record are
indeed to the point But at least the stuff to be
stored at Yucca Mountain was intended to be
retrievable for the first 100 years. Now this
country has reverted to surface storage -- which
is probably good, as the awareness slowly spreads
that fast reactors hold the solution, and that
Yucca Mountain has been money largely wasted.
Sweden could postpone the repository decision, and
save a lot of money.
The important thing, from my perspective, is
that we in the nuclear-power profession have been
far too reticent in letting the rest of the world
know that, properly managed, uranium can power
civilization from here on out -- safely,
affordably, and with fewer environmental
consequences than any other energy source.
-- George
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`
At 06:52 AM 6/4/2009, Franz Schönhofer wrote:
George and other RADSAFErs,
I cannot take this message to be serious. I recall your previous comments,
which were directed to my experience of the Chernobyl accident and tried to
ridicule my experience of far more than ten years on this case. I further
recall your similarly ridiculous comments on my experience as the head of
the IAEA terrestrial working group on the Mururoa Project. So now you
continue to distribute your ridiculous comments, using the Forsmark plans
for disposal of use nuclear fuel.
A very short answer to your comments (questions), which imply that Swedish
scientists are simply idiots and do not know anything about the nuclear fuel
cycle. (I am not Swedish, though I know the language fluently.) How can you
dare to put that forward on an international newsgroup?
How can you dare to put such a question on RADSAFE, taking into account that
the world-wide signal has been distributed by the US-Carter administration,
backing those anti-nuclear groups and which was of course used by the
so-called "greens"? One of their most important goals always was -
officially - the breaking of the nuclear fuel cycle. In the USA they
obviously succeeded.
Ask your own US administration and don't blame anything on the European
situation. Reprocessing is going on in Europe, but since decades it has been
stalled in the USA - blame your own administration.
To all of my information, which might be wrong, the so called "final
repositories" planned in Europe will allow retrieval of the fuel rods.
Think twice before you again write such a nonsensical message to RADSAFE.
Franz
Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
MinRat i.R.
Habicherg. 31/7
A-1160 Wien/Vienna
AUSTRIA
-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] Im Auftrag
von George Stanford
Gesendet: Mittwoch, 03. Juni 2009 21:14
An: Cary Renquist
Cc: radsafe at radlab.nl
Betreff: Re: [ RadSafe ] The world's first permanent disposal site forused
nuclear fuel will be at Forsmark, Sweden's SKB announced today.
Is there nobody influential in Sweden who
knows that the used fuel that they're going to
bury in clay -- presumably irretrievably -- still
retains 95% of the energy it started with?
Nobody who knows that fast reactors can access that energy?
Nobody who knows that the waste form fast
reactors (such as the IFR) is mainly fission products (one ton per
GWe-year)?
Nobody who knows that the activity of that
waste becomes too low to worry about within 500 years?
Nobody who knows that 90% of the ore's
energy remains in the depleted uranium that's
left over from the enrichment process -- energy
that also can be used by fast reactors?
Nobody who knows that the IFR technology is
ready now for a commercial-scale demonstration?
We don't seem to be very good at telling
people about what nuclear power can do for the world, do we?
George Stanford
Reactor physicist, retired
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At 01:43 PM 6/3/2009, Cary Renquist wrote:
Forsmark for Swedish nuclear waste
03 June 2009
The world's first permanent disposal site for
used nuclear fuel will be at Forsmark, Sweden's SKB announced today.
The decision was announced by SKB President,
Claes Thegerström today after a board meeting
yesterday. Forsmark, in the municipality of
Östhammar, was selected in favour of Laxemar in
the Oskarshamn municipality after a process of
investigation and engagement that has lasted since 2002.
Site works towards the underground facility could
begin in 2013, with full construction starting in
2015 and operation in 2023. This single facility,
using only 15 hectares above ground, would hold
all of the high-level radioactive waste from the
nuclear power reactors that provide about 45% of
Sweden's electricity. SKB will apply to nuclear
safety regulators for premission to build in around one year's time.
The repository is designed to isolate the wastes
for the 100,000 years it will take until their
levels of radiation return to the original low
levels of natural uranium. Used nuclear fuel
assemblies are to be packed in cast iron baskets
within thick copper canisters and packed in clay
almost 500 metres below gound in a continguous
section of igneous rock. At that level,
groundwater movement is so slow that the wastes
could never affect life at the surface. The
method, known as KBS-3, was selected in 1983.
The competition to host the site was hard fought,
with both communities taking keen interest - both
municipalities already have nuclear facilities.
Forsmark already hosts a nuclear power plant and
the final repository for short-lived radioactive
waste, but its selection for this facility comes
as something of a surprise. The used fuel for
disposition at the CLAB interim store is in the
Oskarshamn municipality near Laxemar, as will be
the encapsulation plant. Also in that region is
the Äspö hard rock laboratory where much of the
practical work to demonstrate the disposal method has taken place
---
Cary Renquist
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