Clean Energy Insight - Moving Energy Forward

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Radioactive waste comes mainly from nuclear power generation, (plants, operations in the fuel cycle, R&D centers), and is managed in a very rigorous, controlled industry that serves to protects humans and the environment. It maintains high-level oversight from operators, regulatory agencies and governments.

Waste management includes collection, sorting, processing, packaging, transport, storage and disposal. Since the United States does not currently recycle nuclear waste, the issue of waste management, in particular waste storage, is a sensitive issue.

Currently, the idea of using the Yucca Mountain repository as a nuclear waste storage site has been rejected by the Obama administration. Despite the fact that over 20 years of research and BILLIONS of dollars have been put into the project. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu has since then been determined to appoint a panel to best determine the future of nuclear waste.

The Department of Energy will soon be announcing their Nuclear Waste Panel, a group of individuals who will study the best possible way to deal with growing civilian nuclear waste. This panel is created based on the Federal Advisory Committee Act, a law that is designed to ensure the panel is balanced with objective representation of each policy option.

Does it make sense for nuclear waste to be stored on-site at numerous locations throughout the country, or at one central location? Does it make sense for all 104 nuclear power plants to hire extra security on-site at nuclear plants or to have advanced security at one location for all of the stored nuclear waste? And in a place that scientists around the world agree to be a safe and efficient location, based on natural barriers, design elements?

If we can’t store nuclear waste somewhere, what are our other options? Since we live in a world obsessed with the three R’s, reduce, reuse and recycle, perhaps this panel will entertain the idea of recycling nuclear waste.

The French have been recycling nuclear waste for decades, and France’s LA Hague plant is an example of how much waste can be recycled and reused. The plant recycles 96% of used fuel, which leaves 4% categorized as waste. This industrial scale recycling process is proven as an effective approach to waste management, one that the United States could benefit from.

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In an article written by Aaron Curtis, of The Palladium Times of Oswego, New York, “Nuke plant personnel offer a glimpse into daily operations”, published Tuesday, August 25, 2009, it was reported that Constellation Energy opened the doors for media plant tours of its two nuclear power plants, Nine Mile Units 1 and 2, in Oswego for the first time in several years.

The media plant tours were hosted by Constellation Energy as a way to educate and build relationships with the company’s’ main constituents. The tour included a walk through the reactor building, turbine building and control room, and these tours may become a regular occurrence in the future. The tours that Constellation Energy provided to members of the media are beneficial for the nuclear power industry as it strives to educate and enhance communications for relationship building with the general public.

Security of a nuclear power plant is a real concern to the general public and security issues and misconceptions of heavily fortified nuclear power plants have led to the taboo image that the industry is trying to re-invent. At the Nine Mile Point power plants, guests, and daily employees, go through a series of security checkpoints on their way to the plants facilities. Plant tours can provide the public a glimpse of the heavily armed security guards that are trained for potential attacks on plants, especially one that provides power to more than 1 million homes in New York State.

The nuclear power industry can benefit greatly from Constellation Energy’s media tour example, if it follows suit. The industry can highlight and correct misconceptions that the public may have of the security of nuclear power plants. Tours of plants can displace rumors by informing the public and by building trustworthy relationships with its consumers. Residents of the plants’ communities can feel better knowing that they saw first-hand the great lengths taken to provide security in and around the plant and the surrounding community.

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In an article written by Mary Ellen Cheatham titled “Federal Government May Decide on Permit for Nuclear Reactors Soon”, published on August 18th, 2009 on the Georgia Public Broadcasting News & Public Affairs website states that the U.S. Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has issued a decision that clears the way for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to approve an early site permit for two new nuclear reactors in Waynesboro, GA.

In about two weeks the NRC may decide on a permit that deems a Waynesboro site suitable for construction of two new nuclear power plants; this is one of the first permits issued for new nuclear reactors in the U.S. in decades.

We, as Americans, should support this decision, because we can decrease our dependence on other nations for our energy needs by building new nuclear power plants in our own country. We need to encourage the NRC and our federal government to approve permits and licenses for nuclear power plants so we can continue to grow in industry, support booming populations and maintain a sense of security in this country for one and for all. Yes, we want to support the growth and use of other renewable energies, such as solar and wind, but we need to learn, understand, and accept the fact that nuclear energy is not going away, in fact, it is being revived. And, it is safe, it is efficient, it is NOT going to blow us up, it is NOT going to give us weird and inhumane growths. It will give us energy independence, it will provide energy for years and it will allow our children and our grandchildren to live better quality of lives than we have now. One step forward….

Read the full article here.