Re: Yucca Mountain (OPINION)

[jdelahunt@cc.colorado.edu (John DeLaHunt)]

>The proposed Yucca Mountain HLW site was originally scheduled to receive 
>spent nuclear fuel in 1998, however, the new date is predicted to be 2015. 
> A significant technological challenge associated with the design of the 
>site is that it safely contain the material for 10,000 years.
>
>QUESTION: Is a time span of 10,000 years realistic?  Why should it be 
>designed to last for such a long and unforeseeable time period?  This time 
>period places a significant cost burden to the project and delays the safe 
>storage of HLW.

I, personally, hold the OPINION that 10,000 years was seen as a
"sufficiently long time" by people unwilling to accept that 250,000-500,000
years is a sufficently long time.

There is a balance between practicality, expense and risk.  10,000 years
(the typical span between ice ages, unless I miss my guess) is that balance.

I'm sure time spans like a week, a month, a year, a decade, a century, a
millenium, were bandied about.  It seems to me that designing for a century
defers the problem to our childrens' children and that designing for a
millenium is not sufficiently less expensive than designing for ten millenia
to differentiate.

It's indeed a shame that an interim facility, designed for a century of safe
HLRW storage and subsequent retrieval, is politically inviable as to be a
pipedream.

John

*******************************************************
*John DeLaHunt, EHS & RSO * 1125 Glen Avenue          *
*The Colorado College     * Colorado Springs, CO 80905*
*jdelahunt@cc.colorado.edu* VOX:  (719)389-6678       *
*        Owner:           * FAX:  (719)635-3177       *
*hazmat-l@cc.colorado.edu *                           *
*******************************************************
****My opinions only, not those of Colorado College****