Making Our Nuclear Problems Worse

In watching the wall-to-wall coverage of the nuclear problems in Japan – it stimulated my memory about a looming American problem.  The coverage seems to be focus on the reactor sites in Japan.  While the reactors are a substantial part of the problem the construction of reactors reduces the potential problem with a meltdown.  Still serious – but engineers seem to have anticipated that problem.  However spent nuclear fuel rods that are stored in cooling ponds on those sites pose significant dangers as well.  How does that effect us?  Our President (it still hurts to refer to Obama that way) withdrew funding for the completion of the Yucca Mountain (Nevada) nuclear waste repository along with a Department of Energy move to withdraw its support to complete the facility.  This means that spent nuclear fuel rods are piling up in temporary storage facilities at nuclear sites all around our country. 

According to the Heritage Foundation in “President’s Yucca Policy Inconsistent with Nuclear Rhetoric”:

“According to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act (NWPA) of 1982, as amended,  the federal government was obliged to begin collecting nuclear waste by 1998. According to the Yucca Mountain Development Act of 2002, Yucca Mountain was to be the waste repository. Despite having collected over $30 billion in waste disposal fees from electricity ratepayers and spending $10 billion on Yucca development, no waste has been collected.”

In other words – the Federal government is collecting about $750 Million dollars annually from electricity consumers (you and me) for the specific purpose of providing a method and location for spent fuel rods (Yucca Mountain) a location which they have built with $10 Billion of the $30 Billion that they have collected.  However in another example of government bait-and-switch they have closed the project and are looking to kill it for good leaving dangerous spent fuel rods simmering in temporary cooling ponds around the country. 

In “Introducing Market Forces into Nuclear Waste Management Policy” author Jack Spencer points out that in August 2010: 

“The United States has 60,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste stored at more than 100 sites in 39 states, and its 104 commercial nuclear reactors produce approximately 2,000 tons of used fuel every year. The Yucca Mountain repository’s capacity is statutorily limited to 70,000 tons of waste (not to mention the problems associated with even opening the repository). Of this, 63,000 tons will be allocated to commercial waste, and 7,000 tons will be allocated to the Department of Energy (DOE).”

While the Federal government has stalled, mismanaged, and crippled the efforts to complete the Yucca Mountain facility nuclear waste contractually destined for Yucca Mountain has continued to pile up.  Spencer points out that Yucca Mountain is designed to grow to a capacity of more than 120,000 tons which would provide 30 more years of storage – but the damn government has got to get out of the way and let the project be completed.  It is completely irresponsible to not finish the Yucca Mountain repository.  However if the Federal Government does not come up with a solution to the dilemma, then they owe us – the US taxpayer $30 Billion. 

I’m not engaging in the hysteria over what might happen if nature hits us with a “perfect storm” as they have Japan – I’m more worried with the “perfect storm” that our Democrat lead government is orchestrating right now.