Because we have a few threads going currently regarding US energy policies, alternative energy solutions, and what would be the best fuel to use, I offer this article about nuclear waste disposal. (colored highlights are mine)
US nuclear waste strategies evaluated
13:57 10 February 2006
NewScientist.com news service
David L Chandler
Methods planned for transporting radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power reactors are generally safe, but questions remain over the safety of nuclear casks in the event of a sustained, hot fire, a review panel of the US National Academy of Sciences has concluded.
The NAS report released in Washington DC on Thursday, found there are “no fundamental technical barriers” to safe transportation, but that a number of “serious challenges” remain.
Assuming no new plants are built, disposing of fuel from the US’s 112 operating plants will require a two-decade-long programme of daily shipments, and more planning needs to be done for managing this massive operation, the report says.
The report assessed the adequacy of planning for every kind of accident scenario, but not the potential for deliberate acts such as terrorist attacks. To evaluate that aspect, it says, would require creation of a new committee with full access to classified materials.
Trains versus trucks
There are several main scenarios under consideration for moving the 54,000 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste from the US’s 103 nuclear power plants, and a similar amount from military weapons-production plants. One is the movement to their ultimate repository, proposed as the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada. Another is transport to an interim storage spot or possibly to reprocessing facilities.
The material could be moved in an estimated 55,000 truckloads, or in 9600 d