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----------------------- 2231 - NUCLEAR ENERGY - the dark side
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- See review 2225 to learn about our 104 nuclear power plants we have in the U.S. This Review 2231 presents the dark side of nuclear energy………. nuclear waste.
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- See Review 636 to learn how Iran is enriching uranium for its nuclear power plants, and maybe its nuclear bombs?
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- Thousands of tons of highly radioactive spent fuel are in temporary storage in 35 US states, with no permanent solution in the works. Experts now show how to end this status quo.
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- The United States government has worked for decades and spent tens of billions of dollars in search of a permanent resting place for the nation’s nuclear waste. Some 80,000 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and millions of gallons of high-level nuclear waste from defense programs sit in pools, dry casks, and large tanks at more than 75 sites throughout the country.
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- The new study recommends that the US reset its nuclear waste program by moving responsibility for commercially generated, used nuclear fuel away from the federal government and into the hands of an independent, nonprofit, utility-owned and funded nuclear waste management organization.
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- Over the past four decades, the US nuclear waste program has suffered from continuing changes to the original Nuclear Waste Policy Act, a slow-to-develop and changing regulatory framework.
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- Erratic funding, significant changes in policy with changing administrations, conflicting policies from Congress and the executive branch and inadequate public engagement have blocked any progress.
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- The US program is in a knot The strands of which are technical, logistical, regulatory, legal, financial, social, and political. All caught in a web of agreements with states and communities, regulations, court rulings, and the congressional budgetary process.
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- A final goal remains: long-term disposal of highly radioactive waste in a mined, geologic repository.
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- Spent nuclear fuel stored above ground, either in pools or dry casks, is not a solution. These facilities will eventually degrade. And, if not monitored and cared for, they will contaminate the environment.”
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- The new, independent, utility-owned organization would control spent fuel from the time it leaves reactors until its final disposal in a geologic repository. This is not a new idea. Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, and Canada all have adopted a similar approach. Their nuclear waste management programs are moving forward. Finland expects to receive its first spent fuel at its geologic repository on the island of Olkiluoto in the mid-2020s.
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- Essential to the success of a new organization would be access to the Nuclear Waste Fund. Reassigning responsibility to a new organization, whether controlled by the federal government or nuclear utilities, would require an act of Congress.
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- The recommendation is that the Nuclear Waste Fund, more than $40 billion, be transferred to the new organization over several decades. If the new organization successfully develops a geologic repository, this repository could also handle highly radioactive defense waste.
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- The status quo is a big liability for the future of nuclear power, an established source of carbon-free electricity. We citizens need to get your representatives to break the gridlock in Washington and legislate prompt concrete action to solve this problem.
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- You can stick your head in the sand and ignore it. But, the sand may become radioactive.
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- (More reviews on this subject are available if you are interested)
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- 701 - Nuclear Energy today. The 400 plants in the world will grow to 568 by 2020.
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- 689 Nuclear terrorism. There was over 3,600,000 pounds of nuclear material spread around the world in 2006
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- 975 - Atomic and Hydrogen bombs. The US had 32,040 nuclear warheads in 1966.
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- January 9, 2019 See Review 2225
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-------------------------- Wednesday, January 9, 2019 --------------------------
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