Yucca Mountain Halted Again as GOP Aims to Retain Senate

rollcall ^ | September 12, 2018

[SMGFan]

Nevada’s Dean Heller among blockers this time

Supporters of the controversial Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada face a familiar fate despite bipartisan momentum to restart progress on the site: Once again, their hopes appear dashed by a Silver State senator.

For years the Senate spoiler was the chamber’s top Democrat, Harry Reid, who departed in 2017. This year Republican Dean Heller played the role, a vocal opponent of the project who faces an uphill re-election bid in a state that went for Hillary Clinton and Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in 2016.

The outcome: Funding backed by the House to restart the Yucca process was dropped in the conference agreement on the three-bill spending package that includes the fiscal 2019 Energy-Water title, unveiled Monday. It also means bipartisan House legislation to restart the project will likely linger untouched by the Senate this Congress.

Heller’s legislative win was not universally celebrated by GOP lawmakers. A top Yucca advocate pointed to Heller’s race as the reason for stripping out the funding.

[pepsionice]

What ought to be done here is that all federal property in Nevada should be carved off from Nevada (the state). Just make it a territory and hire some federal officer to preside over the territory. It’s very unlikely that any of the federal property will ever be released to the state or to private ownership. Once you accomplish this...I think the state would shrink down to around 15-percent of the mass of Nevada today.

[DIRTYSECRET]

There are 180 nuclear waste sites scattered all over the US. We need one for security purposes. Heller is just covering his butt with the Nevada voters. Can’t blame him.

[alloysteel]

Uranium waste fuel rods need not be wasted, nor stored until infinity. The fissile material still remaining in these rods may be, MUST BE, used to initiate fission in Thorium-fueled Molten Salt atomic reactors, which should be getting built RIGHT NOW as an answer as to how to produce more “clean” electrical energy.

We have the technology, the need, and the industrial base to undertake this transformation of our energy sources in this country, and elsewhere in the world. And eventually, totally eliminate the Yucca Mountain storage site and all other storage sites around the world.

[Freeport]

Folks, there's confusion here. Yucca mountain is for low grade waste like clothing and x-ray sources from your local doctor or dental offices. This waste cannot be reprocessed or used in another way.

High grade waste, and there's plenty of that, from fission cores are stored on site and elsewhere. This stuff could be reprocessed for additional fissile material, but due to treaties and economics, it just sits.

There are private ventures underway to turn this high yield waste into thermal batteries/reactors to generate power. If these come to fruition, one report states there's 700 years or so worth of material waiting to be used.

[relictele]

Thorium-fueled Molten Salt atomic reactors

I misread that ;)

[mad_as_he$$]

You are a liar or badly misinformed. Yucca Mtn is designated to be the site of spent fuel rods.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository

[crusadersoldier]

I worked on part of this project about 20 years ago. The vast majority of waste that was to be stored there was low level waste that was vitrified in glass. Savannah River plant did the test run on this process and the nearly completed Hanford facility is to do large scale processing.

[taildragger]

"Uranium waste fuel rods need not be wasted, nor stored until infinity. The fissile material still remaining in these rods may be, MUST BE, used to initiate fission in Thorium-fueled Molten Salt atomic reactors, which should be getting built RIGHT NOW as an answer as to how to produce more “clean” electrical energy. We have the technology, the need, and the industrial base to undertake this transformation of our energy sources in this country, and elsewhere in the world. And eventually, totally eliminate the Yucca Mountain storage site and all other storage sites around the world."

Alloy, I thought I was the only Thorium dude here, glad to know I have company. And... These spent fuel rods can be recycled and reprocessed if PDJT would either ignore or renegotiate that little ditty that Jimma Carter added to "SALT" because of his daughter Amy wanted to stop proliferation and we shot ourselves in the foot with that one. If I understand it correct we only burn up a fraction of the fuel in Fission reactors and recycling the rods would be a fuel source for our existing Fusion reactors and or help as a source.

[Basket_of_Deplorables]

10-4 what you said.

Thorium Reactors!!!!!!!!!

[Zathras]

The French model works much better than the American.
Reprocess fuel rods, remove the fission products, extract the Plutonium and rebuild the fuel rods with the remaining U235-238

There is a shortage of U235 and burying it in Yucca Mtn is not a smart idea.

[Wuli]

Soooo stupid. What is the expected safe lifetime of the Yucca Flats storage facility as presently designed? It is 1,000 plus years. So the worries about the facility are factually vastly overblown. That means the idiot sheeple are led by bigger idiots in both parties that can’t explain why the sheeple’s fears are without merit. So, unable to speak the truth to the sheeple, the politicians run-scared from them, less they lose their government jobs.