U.S. Nuclear Cleanup Carries Major Risks

Roland Piquepaille writes "New Scientist reports in this pretty alarming article that there is a 50-50 chance of a major radiation or chemical accident during the cleanup of the dirtiest nuclear site in the U.S. There are indeed lots of things to clean at the Hanford complex in Washington state: 67 tons of plutonium and 190 million liters of liquid radioactive waste stored in underground tanks. A third of them, dating from the Cold War, have already leaked 4 million liters in the environment, contaminating the groundwater and a river. Meanwhile, officials at the DOE, who'll spend $50 billion between now and 2035 on this cleanup, seem less worried than the different specialists interviewed by New Scientist. Please read this overview for selected quotes from the article and from the Hanford site. You'll also find a slide from the DOE showing the timeframe for the cleanup."

Comments

Re:To the sun!

[strictnein]

I thought that would be a great idea too, until I realized how much waste there was.

67 tons of plutonium and 190 million liters of liquid radioactive waste stored in underground tanks

So, at $1000 or so a pound... well, you do the math.

Nuclear waste leaks

[Grym]

I'll admit, I only know a little about the storage of nuclear waste, but can someone PLEASE explain how it could possibly be so difficult to keep the stuff from leaking?

It's not like these containers are sitting outside exposed to the elements. They're, AFAIK, stored underground in secure facilities.

People make it sound like the government spends millions of dollars to develop these high-tech facilities and then just haphazardly sprays the stuff into old, rusty oil-drums. Surely this isn't the case.... right...?

-Grym

Re:Why not compare it with coal-fired plants?

[networkBoy]

IAMA(nuke arms scientist)
Plutonium is far more toxic than radioactive (as far as hazards go). What I mean by that is that it takes fall less PU to kill you by poisioning than required to cook you with radiation.
-nB

Facts about the Hanford clean-up:

[Futurepower(R)]

It is important to realize some facts about the Hanford clean-up:

• First, the problems they are talking about happened very early in nuclear power plant research, in the 50s and earlier. They are not so sloppy now in the storage of nuclear waste. Back then, they made extremely severe problems for themselves, which are very difficult to correct.

• Second, there is a huge amount of government fraud, apparently. My uncle was the head of one of the groups at Battelle studying the problems. The way they talk now about the cleanup is exactly the way they were talking in the 70s. Apparently nothing has been done, but they continue to milk the issue for money.

There are tanks at the Hanford site that constantly boil, and have boiled for more than 40 years, because of the heat from radioactivity. They have made devices to examine the boiling. Back in the late 60s they decided they would try to stabilize the tanks by "glassifying" them. The wanted to turn the entire radioactive mass inside a tank into a solid mass of glass.

They are talking about this now, too, and they are giving the same completion date, "15 to 30 years from now". That's why I say that apparently nothing has been done, even though they have spent many, many billions.

What is apparently happening in this story is that they are trying to scare the public so that they can get even more money.

Here's more about U.S. government corruption: Unprecedented Corruption: A guide to conflict of interest in the U.S. government.