Canadian Nuclear Waste

Numberten Web Site ^ | July 9th, 2002 | James Bredin

[shamus11]

The near nuclear melt down at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl seem to have passed into history. Except that these nuclear power stations are still producing electricity and the waste from these power stations has to be stored somewhere. This waste will be radioactive for thousands of years. But the public is told very little about this problem or where it is stored.

[shamus11]

The Nuclear Waste Problem

By

James Bredin

They built CANDU reactors in the fifties in haste,
Never thought much about all that nuclear waste,
Their total commitment has left us a bad taste,
Where to stash the stuff -- radioactive and cancer laced.

They established a panel and conferred at length,
Then formed a committee and discussed what they spent,
Don’t panic the public; we have to pay the rent,
‘Cause if this stuff blows, we’ll be living in a tent.

We need a waste management organization they say,
Private but government funded – taxpayers pay.
To dig a hole and hide these spent nuclear rods away
Deep in the Canadian Shield – someplace faraway.

This nuclear stuff stays active for thousands of years,
We may be treating our descendents to terrible tears,
This long-term planning – they’re giving us the gears –
And their propaganda is reason enough to have fears.

“Environmental assessment” is a phrase that they use,
To hide their objectives and continue their ruse,
We are the unfortunates, who will eventually loose,
Don’t phone your politician, he’s away on a cruise.

Let’s call a moratorium on all this nuclear stuff,
Switch to gas, coal or oil – enough is enough,
Don’t sign Kyoto or we’ll end up in the rough,
Concern for Chernobyl is late and it’s tough.

Referendums and callbacks might keep them in check,
‘Cause this nuclear cult is a pain in the neck,
Their nuclear lobby is high up there on the deck,
Of Titanic politicians near a nuclear wreck.
Canadian Nuclear Waste

[backhoe]

There's a better way than burying it- other countries have, for decades, recycled the stuff:

US Nuclear Power Debate
... The Bush administration also wants to explore new technology to recycle nuclear
fuel, increasing its efficiency and possibly reducing its danger. ...

Other info:

Numatec - the Tri-Cities' 'French connection'
... Numatec other parent is Cogema, the owner and operator of facilities used to produce
and recycle nuclear fuel, including many designed and built by SGN. ...

Nuclear Electricity
... gas equivalent). • Uranium offers a long-term source of energy. Unlike
fossil fuels, we can recycle nuclear fuel. We can recover ...

[MMA Alumni] Helping out MMA Nuclear Employed Alumni
... Many MMA Grads are employed in the Nuclear Power industry, ever since President Carter
killed the national plans to recycle nuclear fuel as was always intended ...

[PDF] U. S. Nuclear Waste Policy: Reaching Critical Mass
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTML
... An Aside: Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Overseas In addition to the United States,
only two other countries don't recycle nuclear fuel as a matter of national ...

Salon.com Technology | Nukes now!
... Other countries, such as Japan and France -- which gets about 80 percent of its
electricity from nuclear power -- recycle nuclear fuel, but President Ford ...

[Henk]

And after recycling, the wastes left over are less radioactive than the dirt the fuel was mined from after 1000 years.

[chimera]

And after recycling, the wastes left over are less radioactive than the dirt the fuel was mined from after 1000 years.

It is in any case, reprocessed or not. Reprocessing does two things that are extremely beneficial: recover useful material, and tremendously reduce the volume of unusable material you have to dispose of. Since CANDU reactors use fuel that is unenriched, their "spent" fuel rods are a very valuable source of transuranics, including plutonium (energy production), americium (smoke detectors and other consumer products), as well as a host of useful isotopes from the various decay chains (e.g., radium).