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[Phys-l] radioactive wastes (was: global temperatures -- a modest proposal)



I agree that Yucca Mountain is a terrific site, but it has a legal storage limit of 70 000 MTHM, which will
be met this next year as existing high level waste. Anything generated in the future will exceed this
limit. With a modest growth rate of only 1.8 %, the high level waste will reach 200 000 MTHM by 2050.

For low level wastes...

* Four classes of LLW: Class A, B, C and greater than class C (GTCC)
* Classification based on risk (content & concentration)
* Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act (1980, amended 1985) establishes policy for LLW
disposition
* Key aspect is the responsibility of the states for LLW disposal
* States grouped together into compacts to develop facilities
* Currently there are three disposal sites in operation (none developed after the LLWPA
* Barnwell, SC: Class A, B, C. Until July 2008 accepted waste from all compacts. Now only
Atlantic compact states (Connecticut, New Jersey, and South Carolina)
* Richland, WA: Class A, B, C from Northwest and Rocky Mountain compacts
* Clive, UT: Class A from all compacts
* License recently granted for Andrews, TX site: Class A, B, C from Texas and Vermont only
* No disposal site for GTCC; Limited disposal capacity for Class B and C.




On 6 Apr 2009 at 14:28, Pete Lohstreter wrote:


marx@phy.ilstu.eduwrites:
Nuclear technologies work great. The problem lies with the wastes - both
low-level and high-level. We have no place to adequately store the existing
waste, let alone that generated in the future.

Not entirely accurate.

WIPP for low level... Yucca Mountain for the rest. The sites exist. It has
become a political football that has been taken out of the hands of those that
really understand what's going on.

My $0.02

PL

Pete Lohstreter "Happy is he who gets to know
The Hockaday School the reasons for things. "
11600 Welch Rd Virgil (70-19 BCE) Roman poet.
Dallas, TX 75229

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plohstreter@mail.hockaday.org

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http://home.hockaday.org/physics/index.html