Trump plans to reclassify nuclear waste - Make America Glow Again

[essentialsaltes]

The proposal by the U.S. Department of Energy would lower the status of some high-level radioactive waste in several places around the nation, including the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state — the most contaminated nuclear site in the country.

Reclassifying the material to low-level could save the agency billions of dollars and decades of work by essentially leaving the material in the ground, critics say.

 

[Aldebaran]

The proposal by the U.S. Department of Energy would lower the status of some high-level radioactive waste in several places around the nation, including the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state — the most contaminated nuclear site in the country.

Reclassifying the material to low-level could save the agency billions of dollars and decades of work by essentially leaving the material in the ground, critics say.

The ground is where the stuff came from in the first place.

 

[essentialsaltes]

The ground is where the stuff came from in the first place.

Excellent. The first dumptruck goes to your backyard.

(Of course, some high-level wastes like plutonium do not come from the ground. It comes from nuclear weapons production facilities like Hanford.)

 

[Aldebaran]

Excellent. The first dumptruck goes to your backyard.

(Of course, some high-level wastes like plutonium do not come from the ground. It comes from nuclear weapons production facilities like Hanford.)

Maybe they could drop it into the crater of an active volcano. That would destroy it.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Maybe they could drop it into the crater of an active volcano. That would destroy it.

It's not a parking ticket. Fire will not destroy it.

But you're getting the right idea. Sticking it down under the earth where it will stay for a long time is a good idea. Sadly, volcanoes are where material comes out of the ground and into our environment, so this may not be the best place to store radioactive waste. Ensuring it stays away from us for a long long time is, alas, expensive.

 

[JackRT]

Maybe they could drop it into the crater of an active volcano. That would destroy it.

Actually it wouldn't. It would simply transfer it to the atmosphere. It would then be 'fallout".

 

[JackRT]

Actually there are solutions that would involve secure burial in deep geological formations but the whole problem seems to boil down to NIMBY for both disposal and transportation.

 

[ilovejcsog]

LOL, I GOT A KICK OUT OF YOUR SUBJECT LINE, LOL

 

[iluvatar5150]

Maybe they could drop it into the crater of an active volcano. That would destroy it.

lol okay, Frodo, whatever you say.

and today in Professor Baggins' Chemistry 101, I learned...​

It's not a parking ticket. Fire will not destroy it.

If fire destroys your parking tickets, you must have some pretty unmotivated courts in your town.

 

[FenderTL5]

Let me guess, The updated label will read: “Now in new fruit flavors!”

 

[Goonie]

The proposal by the U.S. Department of Energy would lower the status of some high-level radioactive waste in several places around the nation, including the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state — the most contaminated nuclear site in the country.

Reclassifying the material to low-level could save the agency billions of dollars and decades of work by essentially leaving the material in the ground, critics say.

What do you expect when Homer Simpson is elected president.

 

[JackRT]

What do you expect when Homer Simpson is elected president.

When you elect a clown, don't be surprised when a circus shows up.

 

[Nithavela]

Just rebrand it as diamonds and start selling it on glow in the dark wedding rings.

 

[Nithavela]

What do you expect when Homer Simpson is elected president.

Nucular.

 

[cow451]

Maybe they could drop it into the crater of an active volcano. That would destroy it.

Any near your house?

 

[Hank77]

The proposal by the U.S. Department of Energy would lower the status of some high-level radioactive waste in several places around the nation, including the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state — the most contaminated nuclear site in the country.

Reclassifying the material to low-level could save the agency billions of dollars and decades of work by essentially leaving the material in the ground, critics say.

I found this article pretty interesting. It's from 2017.
Trump plans to revive nuclear waste plans axed by Obama in 2010
.....
Quietly, since 2010 the Department of Energy (DOE) has established an alternative disposal route. The idea is to bury the spent fuel in hundreds of narrow shafts drilled 5 kilometres down into solid granite.
Up to 40 per cent of the US might have suitable bedrock, but the technique has still to be tested. In December, the DOE selected four companies to find somewhere with the right geology and local support for test drilling.
.....
Fergus Gibb of the University of Sheffield, UK, who first came up with the idea 15 years ago, says the radioactive waste would generate so much heat it would melt the surrounding rock and then slowly solidify into a ”granite coffin”.


It's laughable to downgrade it and think that's going to make a difference. They must think the American public is really, really ignorant.

 

[cow451]

I found this article pretty interesting. It's from 2017.
Trump plans to revive nuclear waste plans axed by Obama in 2010
.....
Quietly, since 2010 the Department of Energy (DOE) has established an alternative disposal route. The idea is to bury the spent fuel in hundreds of narrow shafts drilled 5 kilometres down into solid granite.
Up to 40 per cent of the US might have suitable bedrock, but the technique has still to be tested. In December, the DOE selected four companies to find somewhere with the right geology and local support for test drilling.
.....
Fergus Gibb of the University of Sheffield, UK, who first came up with the idea 15 years ago, says the radioactive waste would generate so much heat it would melt the surrounding rock and then slowly solidify into a ”granite coffin”.


It's laughable to downgrade it and think that's going to make a difference. They must think the American public is really, really ignorant.

In need on the lighter side, Trump Paper Hanging, Inc. launched its newest product line today.

 

[Aryeh Jay]

The ground is where the stuff came from in the first place.

I like this, God made dirt so dirt don’t hurt.

 

[Tanj]

Think of the revenues from radroach hunting licenses.

 

[jacks]

This thread got me to look up "radioactive waste". Yikes!

"Certain radioactive elements (such as plutonium-239) will remain hazardous to humans and other creatures for hundreds of thousands of years. Other radionuclides remain hazardous for millions of years. Thus, these wastes must be shielded for centuries and isolated from the living environment for millennia."

You'd think it's not worth producing it in the first place. Yet, they are going full steam ahead on reopening the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. I'm sure many other places too.