One of the most common excuses used by detractors in order to debunk nuclear energy is the issue of spent fuel. It is a fact that spent fuel from fission reactors remains radioactive for thousands of years after use and also generates large amounts of heat via radioactive decay for the first 50 to 80 years after removal from the reactor.
So what to do with all of this spent Uranium fuel? Currently the plan is to store the material deep underground in the Yucca Mountain Repository. However, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has made it his goal to destroy the project and can be quoted as saying “Yucca Mountain is dead. It’ll never happen.†Reid has shown he is serious by significantly reducing the project’s budget last year.
Originally slated to open in 1998, Yucca Mountain still remains over a decade away from completion ten years after its original target date to begin receiving waste. Years of Democratic intervention have delayed the project indefinitely forcing nuclear power plants to store their spent fuel rods at dozens of locations in the United States.
One other option remains for spent Uranium fuel rods: reprocessing. A procedure known as PUREX or Plutonium and Uranium Recovery by Extraction is the process of separating still-fissile material from spent nuclear fuel and using it to build mixed oxide fuel (MOX). This can in turn be used to generate additional energy with little to no modifications and more importantly without adding to the mounting problem of nuclear waste. This process is already in use by the UK, France, and Japan – all countries with little in the way of barren landscapes to store radioactive waste. A PUREX program was well on its way in the United States during the 70’s.
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Enter Jimmy Carter. Fearing proliferation and the transport of nuclear materials, President Carter halted spent fuel reprocessing in the United States even though the process has been used safely and without incident in other nuclear nations for decades.
In typical fashion, Democrats have succeeded in denying fact, science, and reason by politically crushing any possible means of addressing the one small liability in nuclear generation. Also true to Democratic nature, they are yet to suggest anything resembling an alternative.
It is undeniable that storing nuclear waste beneath a mountain of rock in a desert wasteland far from water supplies, forests, or settlements is a safe means of allowing radioactive waste to decay without harming the ecosystem. It is also a tried and true fact that other countries use PUREX to drastically cut down the net amount of nuclear waste a country produces.
Once again the safe, sufficient, environmentally sound, and economically viable answer to the growing energy crisis is right in front of us.
Images Used in this Post
Ford Nuclear Reactor image courtesy of Flickr user dhaenjd published under the CC license.
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) image courtesy of Flickr user wonderbread74 published under the CC license.
Environmentally Friendly Nuclear Energy image courtesy of Flickr user Experiencias de viagem de 1Brasileiro published under the CC license.
~Man Overboard
Does the PUREX technique guarantee that there won’t be a need to create storage facilities like Yucca?
Jack, which method would you consider a more ideal method of handling nuclear waste, inside Yucca or the PUREX solution?
More importanly, what would be the pros and cons of each? Costs, storage capacity, limitations, etc.?
That picture of Harry Reid has a very sinister look to it… “I’ll get you Gadget. Next time…”
China has more post-graduate students with IQ’s over 130, than the U.S. has high school students, and they don’t dumb down anybody! When the Chinese turn their attention to this problem, (nuclear waste) they will solve it. All we have to do is wait, and not long either, they are much quicker than we are. Post (GRD) great republican depression life in America will be greatly influenced by Asian achievements as we fall away to a society comprised of a few Uber-rich overlords and a huge part-time employed, demoralized, immoral and defeatist service industry folk. The baton has been passed to the Asians as the next great achievers in the world. We will watch as these people attain, break and exceed all American records! We are currently watching the demise of America as a Super- power, and its fall to a third world nation of uber-rich investors, clipping stock coupons of other nations industries and content to spend a few sheckles for delivery pizza as their contribution to this society! Nuclear power will come in its dirtiest form in America at a desperate moment when all faith in solar has been dashed, and the “investor class” will only be willing to put money into their “We own the mines, we own the reactors, we own the distribution system” high profit schemes! They may sell the dirty waste from reactors to Chinese interests, who will promptly recycle it to China’s benefit, and f**k the poor American miner, he will die of cancer due to poor but profitable mine practices, victim of the Uber-rich American middle men who really run the country!
Purex can only extract high level material from “spent” nuclear fuel.
Much of radioactive waste is mid or low level, such as contaminated materials, medical radioactive waste and etcetera.
Therefore even utilizing the PUREX extraction method there will still be relatively large quantities of radioactive waste to dispose of. A facility such as the YMR is vastly superior to having many smaller containment s scattered throughout the country as is now the case.
The coal industry , mining and burning and the oil industry drilling and burning is much more dangerous to the environment, the people and the economy than nuclear power.
And forget about solar, wind and hydro…at least for the next few decades, with present technology they are only a drop in the bucket.
D. Brown,
Well said. You are correct in that the mid and low level waste will remain even despite spent fuel recycling.
I might add to this, that the mid and low level waste is also much shorter lived. The half life of these materials can be measured in days, months, and years instead of decades, centuries, and millennium.
Welcome back, Uncle B! I totally agree that we will eventually become somewhat subordinate to China. But I doubt the US will achieve Third-World status anytime soon.
Yeah, it is totally smart to store spent, unstable nuclear waste in the Yucca mountains for thousands of years. Oh and the fault line that is under could never cause a massive earth quake either. People, always looking at today and not tomorrow.
Thanks for posting this on AmericaC2C.org, Man Overboard!
Excellent article, and very informative. I am not surprised! We have plenty of different “alternative energy” options which could be put into place very quickly in the U.S., so what is the REAL issue?
Why all the talk from our government, and very little action? Rhetoric without action is a “con job”.
Well said, Jan. Sadly, rhetoric is the only sure thing in the energy debate.
Reproccessing will do fantastic things for the nuclear industry. Just like regular recycling, we will be able to remove the fissile material from the spent fuel and be able to load it back into a reactor. However, there is still plenty of highly radioactive waste after the U and Pu are extracted. This high level waste will be still need a deep geological storage. But recycling will improve efficiency, and also reduce the volume of high level nuclear waste that needs to be stored for a long time. To me, that is a win-win.
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Let’s cut to the chase. Storing radioactive waste is dangerous, alternative free energy methods are ineffectual. We need to tap the energy of the people!
Think about it, thousands of babies lined up inside of a mountain, all of them hooked up to wires, while we suck the very essence of life itself from them! We’ll also solve the over-population problem, two goals I’ve solved with the power of positive thinking!
Nuclear power , while theoretically possible is not financially feasible. There are many other technologies that are far cheaper to implement and use.
Nuclear power is not needed.
Raging,
Your just flat out wrong. Nuclear costs are all start up. After that, operating costs are nill compared to other sources.
Ethanol proved too expensive and raised food prices worldwide.
Wind and solar will bankrupt the economy.
Coal is dirty
Hydro is tapped
Nuclear is the only viable solution.
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