U.S. storage sites overfilled with spent nuclear fuel

MSNBC ^ | 3/22/11 | JONATHAN FAHEY, RAY HENRY

[EBH]

71,862 tons, with more created every year, and no permanent disposal solution

The nuclear crisis in Japan has laid bare an ever-growing problem for the United States — the enormous amounts of still-hot radioactive waste accumulating at commercial nuclear reactors in more than 30 states.

The U.S. has 71,862 tons of the waste, according to state-by-state numbers obtained by The Associated Press. But the nation has no place to permanently store the material, which stays dangerous for tens of thousands of years.

Plans to store nuclear waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain have been abandoned, but even if a facility had been built there, America already has more waste than it could have handled.

Three-quarters of the waste sits in water-filled cooling pools like those at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear complex in Japan, outside the thick concrete-and-steel barriers meant to guard against a radioactive release from a nuclear reactor.

Spent fuel at Dai-ichi overheated, possibly melting fuel-rod casings and spewing radiation into the air, after Japan's tsunami knocked out power to cooling systems at the plant.

The rest of the spent fuel from commercial U.S. reactors has been put into dry cask storage, but regulators only envision those as a solution for about a century and the waste would eventually have to be deposited into a Yucca-like facility.

The U.S. nuclear industry says the waste is being stored safely at power-plant sites, though it has long pushed for a long-term storage facility. Meanwhile, the industry's collective pile of waste is growing by about 2,200 tons a year; experts say some of the pools in the United States contain four times the amount of spent fuel that they were designed to handle.

[blondee123]

Yep, MSM will keep rolling out these types of reports til all our nuclear plants are shut down, government better start erecting windmills & FAST!

[WHBates]

Then why were there over 11,500 spent fuel rods at the Fukushima plant? Is the cost prohibitive?

Do you have a source for that information? That's allot for even 6 units. And the Japanese do reprocess fuel. The reason unit 4 had so many problems is because it's entire core was off loaded at the time of the accident so much of the fuel stored there was relatively new fuel.

[Roklok]

They have been screwing around with Yucca Mt for decades. Nobody can make a decision. I have encountered this indecision mentality for years with high ranking people, military and civilian alike.

[EBH]

he Fukushima Dai-ichi site has a considerable number of fuel rods on hand, according to information provided Thursday by Toyko Electric Power Co., which owns the atomic complex: There are 3,400 tons of fuel in seven spent fuel pools within the six-reactor plant, including one joint pool storing very old fuel from units 3 and 4. There are 877 tons in five of the reactor cores. Officials have said that the fuel in Unit 4’s reactor vessel was transferred to its spent fuel pool when the unit was temporarily shut in November.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_japan_earthquake_plutonium

[Sawdring]

Seems to me they are making plenty of room in the middle of Detroit to accommodate a storage facility.

[LibLieSlayer]

harry reid’s fault.

LLS

[Waco]

Almost every county in the country has a statue on the Courthouse lawn. Encapsulate an amount of the ‘’spent’’ fuel in lead, glass and ? then bury it deep beneath these statues never to be disturbed, for that matter you could put it under the Courthouse.

[DaxtonBrown]

www.yuccamountainexpose.com

This site covers the watermelon greens who set back Yucca Mountain. The book is being reprinted.

[Don Corleone]

Encase them in blocks of glass and drop them into the Marianas trench. They will be safe for eons.

[WHBates]

Thanks for the link. I was a bit skeptical when they quoted somebody from the Union of Concerned Scientist, They are very anti nuke and often make things up to push their point of view.

In the post that you responded to I was questioning the 11500 fuel bundles (rods) of the original post, and this article talks about 3400 tons and that would be a little over 3400 fuel bundles (rods). Most of these units are pretty old and apparently the Japanese haven't got the fuel reprocessing plant up and running. 3400 + 877 is about 24 to 30 complete fuel loads which sound about right for 6 units when at least 2 of the units are over 30 years old and all but 2 I believe are greater than 22 years old.

[worst-case scenario]

I was wrong. It’s not 11,500, but 11,195. Here’s the citation:
http://nuclear-news.net/2011/03/19/fukushimas-spent-nuclear-fuel-rods-are-critically-dangerous/

[roadcat]

Encase them in blocks of glass and drop them into the Marianas trench. They will be safe for eons.

One of the best ideas I've heard. However, I also read that the Japanese had trouble trying to use electronic robots and cameras because the radiation and heat destroyed glass and rubber in them. Is there a glass that will safely contain radiation without breaking down?