About 370,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel have been produced by commercial reactors worldwide since the 1950s, with another 12,000 metric tons being generated annually, according to a new report from the environmental organization Greenpeace.
Roughly one-third of the spent fuel has been reprocessed, leaving the rest in storage in 14 nations.
“The majority of this spent fuel remains in cooling pools at reactor sites that lack defense-in-depth such as secondary containment and are vulnerable to loss of cooling, and in many cases lack independent back-up power,” according to the report, commissioned by Greenpeace France. “The Fukushima accident in March 2011 made it clear that the high heat hazard of spent fuel pools was not an abstract issue.”
The report focuses on nuclear waste management plans in France, Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
“As with the financing of new nuclear reactors, the cost implications of managing and eventually disposing of nuclear waste, including spent fuel, are forever escalating,” it says. “What is clear is that no country has a credible estimate of the total costs that will be incurred to manage nuclear waste over many decades let alone centuries. Even recent cost estimates are lacking in many countries.”
The United States has already spent $15 billion in evaluate potential sites for a national repository for spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste, which by law is designated to be built under Yucca Mountain in Nevada. But the state has bitterly fought this outcome, and the licensing process – much less construction and operations – has not received any new federal funding for nearly a decade.
An updated Department of Energy life-cycle cost for Yucca Mountain, issued in 2008, estimated Yucca Mountain would cost $96.2 billion in 2007 dollars. That projected accounted for a 30-percent spike in the amount of used fuel that would go into disposal, from 83,800 metric tons in 2000 to 109,300 in 2007.
However, “with more than 112,000 tons of spent fuel projected as reactors continue to operate these costs will also significantly increase,” Greenpeace said.
By statute, Yucca Mountain would be allowed to hold 70,000 metric tons of waste. A 2017 nuclear waste policy management bill from Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) would have increased the maximum amount to 110,000 metric tons. The bill passed out of the House but never got a vote in the Senate in the last Congress.
Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based nuclear project management and personnel provider ReNuke Services has two new vice presidents, one newly hired and one promoted from within.
The company on Jan. 25 announced that it had promoted treasurer Marcie Acosta to vice president of administration and finance. It also hired industry veteran Wendy Lambert as vice president of business development and communications.
In addition, ReNuke brought on Cecilee Rowlette as general manager of recruiting and staffing, according to a press release. Rowlette previously spent eight years at Tennessee-headquartered staffing firm StaffSource.
Acosta joined ReNuke in 2013 as a staff accountant, then moved up to controller in 2017 and treasurer last year. In the vice president position, she heads all administrative and financial activities within the company. That includes managing accounting, human resources, and technology personnel.
Lambert previously was marketing and business development manager at Enercon Services and marketing director and proposal manager at Perma-Fix Environmental Services. She held each job for four years and nine months, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Formed in 2002, ReNuke has more than 100 employees working in nine states, according to the company website. Along with staffing nuclear jobs, the company offers project management in areas including decontamination and decommissioning for nuclear production and waste processing operations, demolition and removal of nuclear plants, waste treatment, and extraction of underground storage tanks.
From The Wires
From UtahPolicy.com: A bill in the Utah Legislature would allow for permament disposal of depleted uranium in the state.
