[ RadSafe ] [ RadSafe Yucca Mtn.

Mon Sep 20 18:29:50 CDT 2010

I have always believed that Yucca Mountain was both adequate and
unnecessary.  It would have been adequate, in terms of dealing with SNF,
in that it would be a secure location for the fuel to sit and decay
radiologically, but would not be overly difficult to recover the fuel
should it be desired.  It is and was unnecessary, in that there are
other adequate ways of holding SNF as it cools to the point where
reprocessing is easier.

My current favorite way of dealing with SNF is to have several regional
dry cask storage facilities, with the selection criteria not absolute
perfection, but rather noticeably better than the current situation.
One of the storage facilities (I quite like this one) is at Fort Knox,
in a band around the Gold Repository.  It is already arguably the most
secure location on Earth, and the facility can be engineered to actually
enhance the Repository's security.  The land is already owned by the
Federal Government, so there is no acquisition problem.  There is no
reason to believe the Repository will be moved within the lifetime of
the United States, so long term planning is easy.  

SNF has some non-trivial technical challenges in dealing with it safely,
but they are no more difficult than many things dealt with on a daily
basis.  It is the politics that have been hard.  

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Mike McGuigan
Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 12:09 PM
To: Jerry Cohen; The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics)
Mailing List
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] [ RadSafe Yucca Mtn.

What would this body of RadSafety experts propose as an alternative to
Yucca?

Michael McGuigan
Radiation Safety Officer
Ames Laboratory, USDOE
515-294-7922

Jerry Cohen wrote:
> I have always opposed the Yucca Mountain project! This is not because
of any 
> inherent health or environmental risk, but simply because the problem
is not 
> that dangerous  or complicated to begin with. I am sickened by the
squandering 
> of $20 Billion in hopes of gaining public acceptance. If anything,
this 
> expenditure has predictably been counter-productive. Just another
example of 
> government in action.
> Jerry Cohen
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: "Hunter, Jeffrey L" <Jeffrey_L_Hunter at RL.gov>
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
List 
> <radsafe at agni.phys.iit.edu>
> Sent: Mon, September 20, 2010 10:53:54 AM
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Haley Slams Reid's Rejection of Yucca Nuclear
Waste 
> Site
>
> Jeff,
>
> You know better than that.  
>
> Jeff Hunter
> Hanford ALARA Center
> Mission Support Alliance
> P.O. Box 650, MSIN SO-19
> Richland, WA  99352
> (509) 373-0656, Office
> (509) 308-5627, Cell
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu 
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Kulp, Jeffrey
B
> Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 10:13 AM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics)
MailingList
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] Haley Slams Reid's Rejection of Yucca Nuclear
Waste 
> Site
>
> I am somewhat confused; Ms. Haley is slamming Sen. Reid because he
does
> not want Nevada to become the "dumping ground" for America's nuclear
> waste. Her concern is that South Carolina will become a "permanent
> dumping ground" for America's nuclear waste. If the east coast had
been
> able to come up with a viable long term storage area for nuclear
> materials, they wouldn't have to worry about sending it to somebody
> else's area of the country. Sounds like NIMBY-ism to me
>
> Jeff Kulp
> Washington State University
> Radiation Safety Office
> Pullman, WA 99164-1302
> (509) 335-8175
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at agni.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Perle, Sandy
> Sent: Sunday, September 19, 2010 8:44 PM
> To: The International Radiation Protection (Health Physics) Mailing
List
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] Haley Slams Reid's Rejection of Yucca Nuclear
Waste
> Site
>
> Haley Slams Reid's Rejection of Yucca Nuclear Waste Site
> September 19, 2010
>
> (AP) South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley is launching a
> new attack-- calling out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for wasting
> billions of dollars by preventing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
> repository from going online.
>
> Haley, whose state contains two nuclear waste processing sites, said
$20
> billion already has been spent on the facility 100 miles north of Las
> Vegas, including $1.2 billion from South Carolina.
>
> "President Obama and Harry Reid are willing to shut down Yucca and
make
> South Carolina a permanent dumping ground to save Harry Reid's Senate
> seat. That's wrong," Haley said in a statement issued Saturday night.
>
> "We are not interested in investing in any more Nevada real estate
when
> we get nothing in return. If the feds want to renege on the promise to
> keep Yucca open, they must refund the $1.2 billion our state has spent
> on the facility. We want our money back," she said.
>
> Reid has made shutting down development of Yucca one of his
priorities,
> and successfully lobbied the Obama administration to prevent licensing
> of the site, which Congress approved in 2002 as the nation's only deep
> earth, geologically safe disposal facility.
>
> "Hell no, that won't happen," Reid told the Las Vegas Journal-Review
on
> Saturday about continuing to develop the Yucca site. "Nevada is not
the
> nation's dumping ground and it never will be as long as I have
something
> to say about it."
>
> President Obama has created the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's
> Nuclear Future, led by Congressman Lee Hamilton and General Brent
> Scowcroft, to look for alternative locations for disposal and
recycling
> of nuclear fuel.
>
> In March, the Department of Energy asked that its application for a
> license with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build the repository
> be pulled with prejudice. A subcommittee of the NRC refused the
request,
> and in a decision expected soon the NRC could announce it will bar a
> withdraw of the application. That would enable it to move to deny the
> license, effectively sealing off the site, a decision that will likely
> lead to a lawsuit in federal court.
>
> On Thursday, while touring the Savannah River nuclear waste disposal
> site in South Carolina, Haley said she wants to pursue a coalition of
> governors to pressure the administration to continue development of
> Yucca.
>
> Unfortunately for Haley, if elected her term would not overlap with
> like-minded Republican Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell. Rell, who announced
> she is retiring this year, sent a letter to Energy Secretary Stephen
Chu
> this month requesting that Yucca continue to be developed.
>
> "DOE has spent decades and billions of dollars investigating the
> suitability of Yucca Mountain as a geologic repository, determined in
> 2002 that Yucca Mountain was a suitable location, and even now
concedes
> that its Yucca Mountain application is neither flawed nor the site
> unsafe," Rell wrote to Chu, according to Sunday's New Haven Register.
>
> "To now reverse developing Yucca Mountain as a permanent storage site
as
> a matter of policy is a disservice to Connecticut rate payers, who
> continue to be burdened by DOE's delay in proceeding with its license
> application."
>
> Connecticut has two nuclear power plants storing spent fuel rods.
> Connecticut gubernatorial candidates -- Republican Tom Foley and
> Democrat Dan Malloy -- have not weighed in on the Yucca site. However,
> Haley's Democratic opponent Vincent Sheheen has reportedly agreed with
> Haley about pursuing the Nevada waste facility.
> ____________________
> Sander C. Perle
> President
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