[ RadSafe ] Fw: Finding a non-solution for a non-problem

Mon Apr 5 01:36:29 CDT 2010

Dear Jerry et al:

Having worked on the beast at Yucca Mointain, WIPP, the Nebraska LLRW,  
the Mexico LLRW, sites in Czech Republic and Slovakia, there are a  
number of problems that could be identified as focal points of issue  
for any waste facility.

The ultimate objective should be to identify and characterize those  
performance features that contribute to the overall performance.  
Ideally, this would seem to imply characterization of relatively  
simple geology.

In both WIPP and Yucca Mountain, a great deal of effort was made to  
characterize all aspects of the geology, hydrology and engineering,  
not just those aspect that contributed to the performance.

For WIPP, formalized performance assessment eventually focus on about  
30 parameters, and all other aspects which had been rigorously  
investigated at massive cost were set to "worst case" simply because  
they contributed so little either one way or the other. WIPP was the  
simpler of the two in terms of Performance Assessment.

I believe that Yucca Mountain failed for three reasons: 1)  
Irresistanle quantities of funding allowed any possible research to be  
conducted; 2) Lack of a coordinated Performance Assessment plan early- 
on which would have narrowed the required focus for FEPs that were  
important and 3) The inevitable rise of a political tone surrounding  
the effort.

There was perhaps a 4th cause: Work was performed soley by the DOE /  
Labs and contractors and not the companies focused on a solution. As I  
recall, the repository was to have been opened in 2000.

Another potential mistake was giving up very early on alternate sites  
and eliminating reprocessing which placed all the eggs in one basket.

I guess that makes 5 issues!

There wa an article in Scientific American focused on bedded salt back  
in the 60s that I read with interest at the time. Amazing that we have  
come so far and accomplished so little.

Dan ii

FEPa ==> Features, Events and Processes

Dan W McCarn
HotGreenChile at gmail.com
+1-505-310-3922
Sent from my iPhone

On Apr 4, 2010, at 10:15 PM, Jerry Cohen <jjc105 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> ----- Forwarded Message ----
> From: Jerry Cohen <jjc105 at yahoo.com>
> To: Doug Huffman <doug.huffman at wildblue.net>
> Sent: Sun, March 28, 2010 5:02:28 PM
> Subject: Re: Finding a non-solution for a non-problem
>
>
> Don, Sandy, et al,
> I too, am disgusted with the several decades of floundering and the  
> billions of dollars that have been squandered seeking an acceptable  
> solution to the non- problem of nuclear waste management. Perhaps  
> some effort to define the nature of the problem should precede a  
> massive effort to find a solution.
> Jerry Cohen
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Doug Huffman <doug.huffman at wildblue.net>
> To: "Perle, Sandy" <SPerle at mirion.com>
> Cc: "radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu" <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Sent: Fri, March 26, 2010 6:10:14 AM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Panel to study what to do with U.S. nuclear  
> waste
>
> Expands the concept of pouring porckulus money down a black hole  
> beyond
> even the blackguard's wildest dreams.
>
> On 3/25/2010 21:58, Perle, Sandy wrote:
>> Yet another study where there already exists a solution!
>>
>> Panel to study what to do with U.S. nuclear waste
>>
>> By the CNN Wire Staff
>> March 25, 2010 10:36 a.m. EDT
>>
>> The Obama administration opposes storing nuclear waste at Nevada's  
>> Yucca Mountain site.
>> STORY HIGHLIGHTS
>>           • Government panel reviewing where to store nuclear waste
>>           • Process could take more than a year
>>           • Panel expected to reject Yucca Mountain site
>>           • $10 billion has already been spent on Yucca
>>
>> Washington (CNN) -- A government-appointed commission will start  
>> reviewing Thursday ways to permanently store the United States'  
>> nuclear waste.
>>
>> The Department of Energy's Blue Ribbon Commission has been given  
>> the task of finding an alternative to the Yucca Mountain site in  
>> Nevada, which President Obama has vowed to close.
>>
>> The government has spent nearly $10 billion studying the Yucca  
>> Mountain location, and the Obama administration estimates that  
>> ending the program will save $197 million in 2011.
>>
>> The Obama administration announced in January that the blue-ribbon  
>> panel would take a new look at the problem. The panel is headed by  
>> former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton and former Republican National  
>> Security adviser Brent Scowcroft.
>>
>> It is highly likely that the 15-member commission will abandon the  
>> option to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.
>>
>> It is expected to take 18 months for the commission to conclude its  
>> findings, and that isn't sitting well with several lawmakers from  
>> states with temporary nuclear waste storage sites.
>>
>> House members Tuesday introduced a bipartisan resolution to block  
>> the closure of Yucca Mountain, according to media reports.
>>
>> Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Washington, said the resolution calls on the  
>> Department of Energy to follow the will of Congress.
>>
>> "Keeping waste scattered across the country, or in the case of  
>> Washington State at Hanford, is no longer an option," Inslee said  
>> in a statement. "We have a solution to this problem and we must  
>> move forward."
>>
>> The Hanford facility is one of more than 100 nuclear sites across  
>> the country where about 70,000 tons of radioactive waste are  
>> stored. An estimated 2,000 tons are added every year. How federal  
>> funds are being used to clean up Hanford
>>
>> After uranium has been used in a reactor, the spent fuel remains  
>> radioactive for thousands of years. It is taken out and put into a  
>> pool of water, or above ground in canisters made of concrete, steel  
>> and lead.
>>
>> There's never been a plan B.
>> --- Michael Voegele, consultant on Yucca Mountain site
>> The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the canisters are certified  
>> for up to 90 years of use, but that term may be extended.
>>
>> Both supporters and opponents of nuclear power largely agree that  
>> storing the material in casks at nuclear plants is no long-term  
>> solution.
>>
>> If the blue-ribbon commission decides to abandon Yucca Mountain as  
>> a nuclear storage facility, there are concerns in southern Nevada  
>> over what will be done with the site.
>>
>> "For years, there's never been a fallback, there's never been a  
>> plan B," says Michael Voegele, who's been involved with the Yucca  
>> Mountain project for decades.
>>
>> Voegele, a consultant with Nevada's Nye County, says it was "only  
>> recently" that people began to discuss other possible uses for the  
>> site.
>>
>> The search for future uses of Yucca only came into question,  
>> according to Voegele and others, when the Department of Energy  
>> filed a petition to withdraw its Nuclear Regulatory Commission  
>> license application for Yucca Mountain earlier this month,  
>> effectively killing the project.
>>
>> The Department of Energy filed its petition to withdraw the license  
>> application with prejudice, which would prevent it from being  
>> refilled.
>>
>> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada has fought hard to end  
>> the Yucca Mountain project, which is unpopular with many Nevadans.  
>> He has asked the Government Accountability Office to consider  
>> alternative uses for the site. Those alternatives include national  
>> security activities and renewable energy research.
>>
>> But the closure of the project could have a major economic impact  
>> in the region. Gary Hollis, the chairman of the Nye County Board of  
>> Commissioners, says closing Yucca Mountain slams the door on 4,000  
>> construction jobs and about 1,500 permanent jobs that would have  
>> been created if the site ever got up and running.
>>
>> ____________________
>> Sander C. Perle
>> President
>> Mirion Technologies
>> Dosimetry Services Division
>> 2652 McGaw Avenue
>> Irvine, CA 92614
>>
>> +1 (949) 296-2306 (Office)
>> +1 (949) 296-1144 (Fax)
>>
>> Mirion Technologies: http://www.mirion.com/
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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