Wednesday, March 16, 2011

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 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.  

The Bad Science and Bad Policy of Obama's Global Warming Agenda (Encounter Broadsides)           We Have The Power: Making America Energy Independent

3 comments:

  1. Amigo,

    Nice post. Take a bow.

    Also, WTF is with the GOP House? Did they forget how they got elected and what they were supposed to do?

    They won and still act like losers. Boehner can kiss my ass. What happened to all that tough talk about defunding everything? 54 GOP congressmen voted against shutting down the government. The bill that was passed only had 6 billion in cuts. WTF?

    Sorry I strayed off subject but the Japs will fix it in due course. Meanwhile the tree-humping enviro-nazis are having wet dreams that there has been a nuclear disaster which will kill any discussion here in the states.

    Amigo, we have lots to worry about. We are surrounded.

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  2. Thank you my friend. Remember - there are two political parties - the evil one (Democrats) and the stupid one (Republicans). I didn't dream that up - I heard it on talk radio.

    Generally speaking these disasters rarely live up to the hype they get. I suspect this one in Japan will be the same way. But we do have a train wreck in the making here in the US all due to enviro-Nazis and the feckless left that don't adhere to the deals that they make.

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  3. Let the enviro nazis spew their stupidity about nuclear. Start drilling and crank up the clean coal electric plants. We tried "clean" energy, it didn't work, now shit or get off the pot Obama.

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