Nuclear Waste Disposal – Put It In My Back Garden

Put The Nuclear Waste In My Back Garden

Date 30/07/2008

The Right Side

Garry White

There’s more than one way to make money from nuclear energy – and you don’t have to store toxic waste to do it

Nuclear power is an unacceptable risk to the environment and humanity, according to Greenpeace.

Greenpeace is wrong.

If all the nuclear reactors in Europe were switched off today it would have a disastrous effect on the environment. This would cause an extra 700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to be released into the atmosphere each year, as the continent switched to fossil fuels. This is equivalent to doubling the number of cars on European roads.

It’s just plain stupid.

Greenpeace’s problem is with nuclear waste, but I really don’t think it’s an issue. In fact, I’d be quite happy to store some nuclear waste in my back garden if they wanted… or under the floorboards of my living room.

It wouldn’t bother me one jot.

Let me explain why…

First of all, nuclear fuel can be reprocessed.

The used fuel is separated into uranium (96%), waste (3%) and plutonium (1%). The uranium and plutonium can be recycled to make new nuclear fuel.

The waste is conditioned and stored, usually in glass. This can then be disposed of. I will come to disposal in a moment, but first I would like to consider the amount of waste that would need to be stored… it’s actually much less than you think.

Look at your hand

If you generated all the electricity you need for an entire lifetime from nuclear energy the amount of waste produced would fit in the palm of your hand. It’s tiny.

The amount nuclear waste that needs disposing of is not actually as large as some people think.

Of course this waste has to be sensibly disposed of. The idea of blasting it into space, for example, is sheer idiocy… and not just because of the cost.

Imagine a rocket of nuclear waste misfiring over Cape Canaveral. It doesn’t bear thinking about.

Radioactive waste is the only type of toxic waste that gets less toxic with time. So, storage is the key.

The process of enclosing the waste in glass is called vitrification. It forms a substance that is highly resistant to water. This is patently a good thing.

The US military have an even better alternative. It is called Synroc. "Synthetic Rock," was invented in 1978. It is an advanced ceramic made from the same minerals which have immobilised uranium in the earth’s crust for billions of years.

The system mimics Mother Nature’s method of immobilising radioactive isotopes.

The vitrified waste or the Synroc can then be buried.

You probably haven’t heard much about Yucca Mountain… but you will. It is in Nevada and it the site of the proposed Yucca Mountain Repository. Basically, they are hollowing out a mountain.

It will be ready to accept nuclear waste by 2017.

Yucca Mountains is the most extensively studied geological area in the world. No other rocks have been examined so closely.

The best way

However, another way of storage is altogether neater.

This is called Remix & Return.

I believe it offers the potential to deal with the waste in the most environmentally safe way possible. It involves recreating nature, so Greenpeace should love it. (But of course they don’t.)

Remix & Return involves blending high-level waste with lower-level waste. The resulting blend has a lower radioactive level than the uranium ore dug out of the ground. This can then be used to “fill in” empty uranium mines.

Remember we are not creating uranium out of thin air. Uranium ore in its natural setting also leaks radon gas and other radioactive substances. Processed it is safer, that’s why I would be happy to store some under my floorboards. It doesn’t frighten me.

Greenpeace should focus on saving polar bears and pandas. They should leave the country’s vital energy policy to those who know better. Nuclear power is the way forward… unthinking dogma never did anyone any good.

To discover how you could profit from the worldwide changes in global energy policy click here.

Regards,

Garry White
Editor
Smart Commodities UK

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