[ RadSafe ] The High Price of Nuclear Waste

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

If done with attention to detail and common sense, it isn't even
particularly difficult.  

Much (Most?  Almost all?) medical radioactive waste can, from a rad
point of view, be safely disposed of in a modern, lined, municipal land
fill, with effectively zero increased waste (give what else is disposed
of there).  The short half lives, high dilution factor (of the
landfill), and existing measures to keep people out and garbage in is
adequate.

Spent fuel can age in pools until it can move to dry storage, where it
can wait until someone wants it for recycling.  I always thought that
Yucca Mountain was needless but acceptable, largely because the SNF
could be recovered.  

There are a lot of sources out there that make life better and/or safer
for people, and some are powerful enough that care is needed in handling
and disposal.  But it really isn't that hard (if people aren't being
stupid, which I know is a large caveat), and the volume is trivial
compared to, oh, say, coal ash.  

Of the rad waste issues in the US at this moment, I would put DU as
probably the most pressing.  Before Roger goes ballistic on me, I am
talking about the rather large amount of uranium hexafluoride that has
been built up as the byproduct (or waste, depending on your point of
view) of the enrichment process.  It is a challenge because of the large
amount, inadequate storage provisions, and chemical/physical form.
Dealing with it is not conceptually difficult, and not any more
challenging than thousands of chemical processes that are done every
day, but as with so many things the antis are interfering in the name of
the Public in a way that puts actual people at greater (though not huge)
risk.  

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
Behalf Of Jerry Cohen
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2009 2:51 PM
To: Mark Miller; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] The High Price of Nuclear Waste

Just out of curiosity, if we set aside  political and public relations
considerations, does anyone on Radsafe really believe that the disposal
of nuclear waste would pose a serious threat to public health and
safety???

Jerry Cohen






________________________________
From: Mark Miller <marklmiller at comcast.net>
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Sent: Sun, November 8, 2009 7:00:25 PM
Subject: [ RadSafe ] The High Price of Nuclear Waste

Link:



http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11/04/tracking-taxes-high-price-nuc
lear
-waste/?test=latestnews



by William La Jeunesse   - FOXNews.com  - November 04, 2009

Tracking Your Taxes: The High Price of Nuclear Waste

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