From Coming to a Dump Near You — Nuclear Waste:
The Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS), a nonprofit organization, released a report on May 14 that exposes Department of Energy (DOE) practices of dumping nuclear-related waste in facilities that are unregulated and not designed for radioactive material. NIRS found that DOE’s policies and procedures are geared toward the “release of radioactive waste, materials and property from regulatory control.”
After reviewing seven DOE/NNSA (National Nuclear Security Administration) sites, NIRS’ report discusses various loopholes through which these wastes have continued to be released into the environment.
- “Brokers” licensed to handle radioactive material sell or donate material to other processors not licensed
- Unchecked metal not directly part of nuclear processing (building structures, furniture) is regularly auctioned, exchanged to other federal agencies, donated or rented to public or private entities
- Radioactive waste is mixed with other wastes to be re-characterized as low-level radioactive waste with fewer or no release restrictions
I am so happy that we have a handle on that whole managing nuclear waste thing.
Somebody remind me again why I shouldn’t be screaming non-stop for greater energy conservation and use of renewables as a way to (among other things) minimize the use of nuclear power? Anyone? Bueller?
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May 31st, 2007 at 8:32 am
There was a post to The Energy Bulletin on May 6 “The Point of Despair” which I found from the link you provide. It might be useful for those who haven’t read it. Especially when you consider that at 6 meters, the US ports probably won’t be able to accept tanker shipments that arrive here, except the offshore ports, like LOOP, off the Louisiana coast. At that point, peak oil might become meaningless, since we can’t unload enough imported oil. Maybe GWBush and his buddies who won’t deal with global warming can figure out how to deal with this, but I doubt it. It will be hard to make the billions off refinery operations if you can’t get the feedstock.
(I think that is the old present value idiom - the value of a dollar today is a dollar and tomorrow it isn’t - that has provided the energy policy that we (don’t) have today.)
I guess it all depends on timing, rate of sea level change, etc. as to how badly this effects us in the US, but lots of the rest of the world better not wait for the proper timing to move away from anywhere close to 18′ or so above present sea level. So many things are changing so fast, scary doesn’t even come close.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:36 am
Sorry, I meant for the above to post to the thread for the next article on seal level rise. It all ties together, and I read both at the same time but I don’t think sea level rise will effect Nuclear Junk.
May 31st, 2007 at 8:45 am
Woodchuck: You’re absolutely right about timing being everything. I’m increasingly convinced that as terrifying as global warming is, it will be dwarfed by the peak oil (and peak natural gas) crisis. Global warming’s effects are already being felt in the form of rising sea levels in some coastal and island communities around the world, as well as drought conditions such as those in parts of the US and Australia, so it’s definitely not a problem that won’t arrive on our doorstep for another 20 or 50 years. But peak oil will cause a severe shock to the entire world economy, and it will likely happen (in my opinion) no later than 2011. That’s when we’ll be pushed, hard, to show our flexibility and ingenuity.