[ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post] Danger of nuclear fuel storage at Columbia Generating Station

[Brennan, Mike (DOH)]

While I have to admit not being surprised that a study funded by anti-nuke groups concludes that (fill in the blank) is too dangerous and ought to be shut down, I have to say that spent fuel pools in the upper stories of structures have never struck be as the best of ideas.  I recognize that it is keen to be able to move fuel from in the reactor to in the pool without lifting it out of the water.  However, after a couple of years to cool so it isn't just crazy radioactive it would also be keen if it were somewhere else.  I know about dry cask storage, and very much approve, but there could be an in-ground pool, not inside the reactor building, where the fuel could chill for the few more years needed before it is ready for dry cask.  If the fuel was moved one or two assemblies at a time shielding and cooling wouldn't be a big problem.   

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Roger Helbig
Sent: Saturday, November 22, 2014 1:27 AM
To: RADSAFE
Subject: [ RadSafe ] Fwd: [New post] Danger of nuclear fuel storage at Columbia Generating Station

when is some going to make people that are not anti-nuclear campaigners, a well paying occupation, realize that Robert Alvarez knows pretty much nothing about spent nuclear fuel.  He is just a slightly better educated and "credentialed" Arnold Gundersen.
---------- Forwarded message ----------



Christina MacPherson posted: "Groups says fuel storage poses risk at the Northwest's lone commercial nuclear plant  Oregon Live By Ted
Sickinger| tsickinger at oregonian.com  Email the author | Follow on
Twitter   November 20, 2014 The growing stockpile of spent nuclear
fuel at the North"
Respond to this post by replying above this line

New post on nuclear-news

Danger of nuclear fuel storage at Columbia Generating Station

by Christina MacPherson

Groups says fuel storage poses risk at the Northwest's lone commercial nuclear plant  Oregon Live By Ted Sickinger| tsickinger at oregonian.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter   November 20, 2014 The growing
stockpile of spent nuclear fuel at the Northwest's lone commercial nuclear plant poses a safety risk to the public in the event of an earthquake, according to a study sponsored by anti-nuclear groups.

The study of spent fuel storage at the Columbia Generating Station is the latest of several commissioned by the Physicians for Social Responsibility and Heart of America Northwest. They collectively suggest that the plant is an expensive and dangerous way for the Northwest to generate electricity, and that it ought to be closed.

The study was authored by nuclear critic Robert Alvarez, senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. Officials at Energy Northwest, the utility consortium that operates the plant, say it is riddled with hyperbole, data errors and fear mongering. They also suggest its backers are extrapolating earthquake risks from recent seismic data that doesn't apply to the plant site.

The 1,200 megawatt boiling-water reactor is located on the Hanford nuclear reservation near Richland, Wash. It opened in 1984 and has since generated some 368,000 spent fuel rods in 4,588 assemblies.

In the absence of a national repository, about 60 percent of that waste has been transferred to durable, dry-cask storage, a safety measure that Alvarez applauds. But the remaining 40 percent remains in the reactor's spent fuel pool, a 350,000-gallon tank located at the top of the reactor building, six stories above ground..........http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2014/11/groups_says_fuel_storage_poses.html

Christina MacPherson | November 22, 2014 at 9:05 am | Categories:
safety, USA | URL: http://wp.me/phgse-imo

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