If our government had any sense, it would have invested all those billions thrown down the Yucca Mountain rathole into reactor research that can consume the waste where it is and produce electricity at the same time. What don't we understand about this concept! Granted, some stupid laws have to be changed, but isn't that why we have a Congress? The current Gen IV reactor concepts are the solution to our "nuclear waste" problem, and that's in quotes for a good reason: 99% of it is valuable stuff and it will be safe where it is if we get off our collective asses and build SMRs, IFRs, HTHRs, LFTRs etc. ASAP. (you'll have to google those acronyms). After all, most of the LWRs in our current nuclear fleet need to be replaced and/or updated anyway. Wouldn't make sense to upgrade them with reactors that can use the spent nuclear fuel that they have on-site?
Again I ask, what so hard to understand about this? We just need the collective will to get this project off the ground. I think the government has to lead on this. Sometimes that means just getting out of the way.
By the way, we'll still need Yucca and WIPP to store the 1% of our current waste stockpile and, even then, it will be down to background levels within 350 years. But it doesn't need to be retrieveable.
Time for Congress to do more than talk about nuclear waste
If our government had any sense, it would have invested all those billions thrown down the Yucca Mountain rathole into reactor research that can consume the waste where it is and produce electricity at the same time.
What don't we understand about this concept! Granted, some stupid laws have to be changed, but isn't that why we have a Congress? The current Gen IV reactor concepts are the solution to our "nuclear waste" problem, and that's in quotes for a good reason: 99% of it is valuable stuff and it will be safe where it is if we get off our collective asses and build SMRs, IFRs, HTHRs, LFTRs etc. ASAP. (you'll have to google those acronyms).
After all, most of the LWRs in our current nuclear fleet need to be replaced and/or updated anyway. Wouldn't make sense to upgrade them with reactors that can use the spent nuclear fuel that they have on-site?
Again I ask, what so hard to understand about this? We just need the collective will to get this project off the ground. I think the government has to lead on this. Sometimes that means just getting out of the way.
By the way, we'll still need Yucca and WIPP to store the 1% of our current waste stockpile and, even then, it will be down to background levels within 350 years. But it doesn't need to be retrieveable.
March 6, 2013 at 10:03 a.m. permalink suggest removal