About nuclear waste disposal at Yucca Mountain: Yucca Mountain has been
recently described in the press as the most-studied geological feature in
the world. Every effort is being made to store the high-level nuclear
wastes deep underground in a location specifically chosen to be safe from
groundwater, earthquake, war, pilfering, etc. until well past the end of
civilization as we know it. Even though the science says it's stable, many
people disagree. Even if they'll accept the mountain, they refuse to allow
the passage of shipments *to* the mountain.
If we *don't* ship them to Yucca Mountain, what will become of the
radioactive wastes? They will sit immersed in "swimming pools" (and they
literally ARE swimming pools) of water located at the local power plants in
hundreds of locations around the country, where the may be stolen, lost,
cause mischief if the water leaks out, or its containers will corrode and
leak into the water and the groundwater, or the stuff will just eventually
spread into the environment due to lack of maintainence after the plants
close. IMHO, shipping a few hundred tightly controlled trainloads of
well-encapsulated waste to Yucca Mountain is a heck of a lot safer than just
leaving the stuff lying around the neighborhood. Power plants don't last
forever, and neither do the corporations that operate them or the nations
that govern them. Once the initial shipments are finished, the only further
movement of nuclear material will be to move the new fuel to the plants (as
is routine now), and to move a similar amount of depleted fuel to Yucca
Mountian.
This is a case of reality vs. perception. People are very afraid of the "N"
word (nuclear) because they don't know much about it beyond what they've
learned on "The Simpsons." They're afraid of glowing in the dark, turning
into comic-book mutant monsters, being vaporized in a mushroom cloud, etc.
etc. In reality, having a trainload of heavily shielded and contained
nuclear waste roll through the neighborhood on a train is a lot LESS
hazardous than trainloads of any number of other things I could mention,
such as pesticides, cyanide, acids, ammonia, propane, etc. This stuff
travels by rail through our backyards all the time. The fact is that
accidents are rare, and that these chemical accidents are much nastier than
the derailment of a nuclear shipment would be. The "casks" containing the
nuclear waste literally are built like tanks, and are designed to remain
intact in the case of major derailment. Just pick 'em up with a crane, put
'em back on the flatcars, and send 'em on their merry way.
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