AEC to Obama: STFU, the Adults are Talking.

[MKSheppard]

Link

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has suffered a defeat in its efforts to close the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada .

Three administrative judges within the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ruled last week that President Barack Obama and Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu don't have the authority to close the controversial site unilaterally. That can only be accomplished, the judges said, by an act of Congress .

"Unless Congress directs otherwise, DOE may not single-handedly derail the legislated decision-making process by withdrawing the (Yucca repository) application. DOE's motion must therefore be denied," the judges wrote, adding that the DOE had weakened its arguments by "conceding that the application is not flawed nor the (Yucca) site unsafe."

"Given the stated purposes of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act and the detailed structure of that legislation, it would be illogical to allow DOE to withdraw the application without any examination of the merits," the judges found.

The Yucca site has been controversial for a generation. The federal government designated Yucca Mountain in 1987 as the repository of highly toxic waste from nuclear complexes that built atomic bombs during the Cold War and has spent more than $10 billion readying it to receive some of the post dangerous material in the world.

Most Nevada politicians oppose the site, fearing its location 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas will become a drag on Las Vegas' $28 billion tourist industry, but politicians from other states with large stockpiles of nuclear materials are eager for the dump to open.

In addition to waste from the construction of atomic weapons, the site also will accept less toxic — but still plenty deadly — waste from the nation's 104 commerical nuclear reactors.

Republicans accuse Obama of moving to close the site to help Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid , D- Nevada , in his tough reelection battle.

"The president is risking the country's energy independence in an effort to help Senator Reid win a tough election," said Sen. Jim Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin , senior Republican on a House Select Committee on Energy and Global Warming .

The administrative judges' ruling already is scheduled for reconsideration. On Wednesday, the day after the ruling was announced, the NRC quickly set a schedule to hear an appeal, calling for follow-up briefs to be filed by July 16 .

"The department remains confident that we have the legal authority to withdraw the application for the Yucca mountain repository," said DOE spokeswoman Jenni Lee . "We believe the administrative board's decision is wrong and anticipate that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will reverse that decision."

If the NRC rules against the Energy Department , the agency can appeal to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals . That appellate court is already adjudicating parallel litigation involving Nevada , South Carolina , Washington and other states with large amounts of high-level nuclear waste from past atomic weapons production.

In January, Chu set up the Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Energy Future , led by former Rep. Lee Hamilton and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft , to seek alternatives to Yucca Mountain for radioactive waste disposal.

Not just the nuclear waste has proved controversial, however. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act also set a surcharge on the electrical bills of users of nuclear-generated power to develop and operate a dump for nuclear waste.

That surcharge, which has generated abut $32 billion , has hit South Carolinians especially hard because nuclear power provides 51 percent of their electricity, more than in all but two of the other 30 states with commercial reactors.

After Obama moved to mothball Yucca, Sen. Lindsey Graham , R- S.C. , introduced a bill in April 2009 to give nuclear utility consumers rebates from the Yucca surcharges.

"The decision by the Obama administration to close Yucca Mountain was ill-advised and leaves our nation without a disposal plan spent nuclear fuel or Cold War waste," Graham said.

South Carolina politicians are united in backing the Yucca Mountain site also because of waste from the federal government's Savannah River Site on the South Carolina - Georgia border, one of the Department of Energy's main nuclear research facilities.

"Currently, South Carolina is storing 37 million gallons of liquid waste at SRS, as well as tons of used fuel rods at nuclear plants across the state that are intended to be shipped to Yucca Mountain ," said Rep. John Spratt , a South Carolina Democrat.

" Should Yucca Mountain not be opened, South Carolina would be stuck with this waste indefinitely," he said.

Spratt said he will use his post as House Budget Committee chairman to try to restore at least some of the funds cut by Obama to start building the Yucca repository.

[Alyeska]

This is very good news indeed. One of the first steps to increasing our nuclear power is a proper waste disposal site.

[KrauserKrauser]

At least we can sometimes depend on the other branches of government to stop some of the stupidity that is leaking out of the Oval Office.

[MKSheppard]

This is very good news indeed. One of the first steps to increasing our nuclear power is a proper waste disposal site.

Remember when people kept saying that Obama would be good for nuclear power, since he was in Excelon's pocket?

Then he goes and tries to kill Yucca mountain.

[Coyote]

Be better if we repealed that 1970's treaty that banned reprocessing...

[fnord]

Closing the fuel cycle somewhat would also reduce the need for a repository.

What treaty banned reprocessing, Coyote? IIRC, Carter shut down civilian reprocessing in the US by executive fiat, but Reagan rolled back the ban.

Shep - If only it was still the AEC, rather than the NRC - then the US nuclear industry would be a lot healthier.

[Coyote]

The one after India's bomb test.

The problem with Obama is that he is the front man for the Democratic Party, which --despite all logic and reason with their pro-environment appearance-- are charter members of the "anti-nuclear weenies" club.

Oh, where is the "Socialist Progress Worker's Party" when you need one?

[Tanasinn]

(mispost, please remove)

[Tanasinn]

The one after India's bomb test.
Oh, where is the "Socialist Progress Worker's Party" when you need one?

Intentionally subverted by the FBI and corporate interests during the Cold War?

Obama's call here was a bad one. If we're going to have nuclear power increases (and we fucking better), we're going to need a place to put the waste. Hopefully the refining ban will also be lifted, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Sea Skimmer]

Be better if we repealed that 1970's treaty that banned reprocessing...

No such treaty exists. It was an executive order from Carter, and one reversed by Reagan. However once such an expensive effort was shutdown, it was very expensive to restart and the money was never forthcoming. Anyway reprocessing reduces high level waste, but at a high cost in low level waste, a lot if it liquid which we can't do a lot about. The Russian solution has been to inject it underground..... other people and our earlier efforts just end up storing it in 5 million gallon concrete tanks.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Hey, don't you start reprocessing! We enjoy getting paid to do that for the rest of the world. Nuclear is good, mmkay?

Too bad we kind've screwed the pooch in the same way with halting any real advance in nuclear build-out. Maybe wind will save us. Ha.

[Coyote]

Hmmm, my bad then, I was under the impression that it had been a law created during the Carter era and we were still bound by it. Oops.

[Aaron]

I was under the impression that the CANDU and the reactor in Chalk River are capable of burning some of the waste products, in fact we did so a couple years back for some Russian stuff IIRC. Leaving aside the implications of moving this stuff, is it in any way practical or is there just too much of it?

[Gil Hamilton]

No such treaty exists. It was an executive order from Carter, and one reversed by Reagan. However once such an expensive effort was shutdown, it was very expensive to restart and the money was never forthcoming. Anyway reprocessing reduces high level waste, but at a high cost in low level waste, a lot if it liquid which we can't do a lot about. The Russian solution has been to inject it underground..... other people and our earlier efforts just end up storing it in 5 million gallon concrete tanks.

Reagan never removed the ban on reprocessing all nuclear waste, because it was baked into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978. The ban on reprocessing nuclear waste still very much exists, which is why they've got all those pools of hot radioactive material sitting there, must to the consternation of hospitals, for example, who have to buy expensive radioisotopes from reactors like Chalk River in Canada rather than extract them more easily from nuclear waste. It's still not allowed to chemically or otherwise reuse or reprocess nuclear waste. This has been a major problem, because Chalk River is (I believe) in the process of being shut down and they make most of the world's medical radioisotopes.

Here's the relavant text:

]b)(1) No source or special nuclear material within the territory of any nation or group of nations, under its jurisdiction, or under its control anywhere will be enriched (as described in paragraph aa. (2) of section 11 of the 1954 Act) or reprocessed, no irradiated fuel elements containing such material which are to be removed from a reactor will be altered in form or content, and no fabrication or stockpiling involving plutonium, uranium 233, or uranium enriched to greater than 20 percent in the isotope 235 shall be performed except in a facility under effective international auspices and inspection, and any such irradiated fuel elements shall be transferred to such a facility as soon as practicable after removal from a reactor consistent with safety requirements. Such facilities shall be limited in number to the greatest extent feasible and shall be carefully sited and managed so as to minimize the proliferation and environmental risks associated with such facilities. In addition, there shall be conditions to limit the access of non-nuclear-weapon states other than the host country to sensitive nuclear technology associated with such facilities.

[Fire Fly]

With the current economic situation, can't we just bribe Nevada to stop opposing the Yucca facility or provide substantial subsidies?

[fnord]

Aaron, I think you're talking about the DUPIC (Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In CANDU) fuel cycle.

As I understand it (real nuclear engineers, please correct me if I've botched it) - basically, half-used PWR rods are physically reprocessed (cut to fit CANDU bundle sizes), optionally calcined (to cook out residual volatile fission products and restore some +ve reactivity margin), then loaded into a CANDU.

Since half-used PWR fuel is still > 0.7% fissile (typically 0.9% wt fissile U and 0.6% fissile Pu), the CANDU design can burn it some more (being able to attain criticality on 0.71% fissile). Qinshan Phase III unit 1 loaded some DUPIC-style (although with fissile content downblended to 0.71% - apparently shooting for "natural uranium equivalency") fuel in March 2010 for an extended test in an operating commercial unit.

However, because (IIRC) the conventional CANDU design has a very slight positive void coefficient of reactivity, it is illegal to build in the US. The "not invented in America" syndrome may also have contributed.

[Aaron]

Reagan never removed the ban on reprocessing all nuclear waste, because it was baked into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978. The ban on reprocessing nuclear waste still very much exists, which is why they've got all those pools of hot radioactive material sitting there, must to the consternation of hospitals, for example, who have to buy expensive radioisotopes from reactors like Chalk River in Canada rather than extract them more easily from nuclear waste. It's still not allowed to chemically or otherwise reuse or reprocess nuclear waste. This has been a major problem, because Chalk River is (I believe) in the process of being shut down and they make most of the world's medical radioisotopes.

Actually, I think it's down right now pending maintenance and a license renewal. Theres a fair amount of back and forth on whether it will stay open but PM Harper had commented before that the government intends to get out of the isotope business, probably no other choice since the intended replacement design apparently doesn't work.

Aaron, I think you're talking about the DUPIC (Direct Use of spent PWR fuel In CANDU) fuel cycle.

As I understand it (real nuclear engineers, please correct me if I've botched it) - basically, half-used PWR rods are physically reprocessed (cut to fit CANDU bundle sizes), optionally calcined (to cook out residual volatile fission products and restore some +ve reactivity margin), then loaded into a CANDU.

Since half-used PWR fuel is still > 0.7% fissile (typically 0.9% wt fissile U and 0.6% fissile Pu), the CANDU design can burn it some more (being able to attain criticality on 0.71% fissile). Qinshan Phase III unit 1 loaded some DUPIC-style (although with fissile content downblended to 0.71% - apparently shooting for "natural uranium equivalency") fuel in March 2010 for an extended test in an operating commercial unit.

However, because (IIRC) the conventional CANDU design has a very slight positive void coefficient of reactivity, it is illegal to build in the US. The "not invented in America" syndrome may also have contributed.

I'm not going to pretend that I understand any of that beyond "yes, it can." But I was actually asking if it was possible, then why don't we bring the stuff up here to do it? Apologies if I botched it and I wasn't clear.

[PeZook]

I'm not going to pretend that I understand any of that beyond "yes, it can." But I was actually asking if it was possible, then why don't we bring the stuff up here to do it? Apologies if I botched it and I wasn't clear.

Logistics, probably. Canada has 17 CANDU reactors, but you need to transport, process and load the spent fuel rods, which is first not necessarily economical, second it's a massive logistical headache, third the US has something like 60+ nuke power plants (most with more than one reactor) operating and spewing forth nuclear waste, so there's probably simply not enough capacity to use it all in CANDUs.

[Gil Hamilton]

Actually, I think it's down right now pending maintenance and a license renewal. Theres a fair amount of back and forth on whether it will stay open but PM Harper had commented before that the government intends to get out of the isotope business, probably no other choice since the intended replacement design apparently doesn't work.

Ahh, OK... I heard it was being shut down, which scared alot of people who use radioisotopes. I wonder why Harper wants get out? I've heard that Chalk River doesn't exactly have the best safety record, but at the same time, its going to be a pain for anyone who wants to think about doing nuclear medicine if Chalk River isn't churning out the radioisotopes, since we can't reprocess nuclear fuel to get them.

[Aaron]

Well the reactor is 57 years old, so I would expect a few hiccups. I'm not sure what Harper's reasoning is, other then we may not be able to replace it. There was an intended design, MAPLE(?) but apparently it has been canned due to cost over-runs and some unforseen safety issues.

I just keep my fingers crossed that when the current reactor is shut down for good that someone will pick up the slack or that they just don't close down, shrug and go "sucks to be you."

[Gil Hamilton]

I suppose that's true. We'll just have to see. The costs of nuclear medicine may have to go up until someone can set up a new reactor set to churn out the hot stuff.

[Sea Skimmer]

Reagan never removed the ban on reprocessing all nuclear waste, because it was baked into the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act of 1978. The ban on reprocessing nuclear waste still very much exists, which is why they've got all those pools of hot radioactive material sitting there, must to the consternation of hospitals, for example, who have to buy expensive radioisotopes from reactors like Chalk River in Canada rather than extract them more easily from nuclear waste. It's still not allowed to chemically or otherwise reuse or reprocess nuclear waste. This has been a major problem, because Chalk River is (I believe) in the process of being shut down and they make most of the world's medical radioisotopes.

Hmm didn't know that. They might have some waivers or loopholes in effect then, because the US does reprocess Russian plutonium and blends it to make MOX fuel for a couple reactors. Part of a deal by which the US is buying and destroying (though contaminating it) the massive Russian plutonium surplus.

[Gil Hamilton]

Hmm didn't know that. They might have some waivers or loopholes in effect then, because the US does reprocess Russian plutonium and blends it to make MOX fuel for a couple reactors. Part of a deal by which the US is buying and destroying (though contaminating it) the massive Russian plutonium surplus.

I believe the answer is that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act makes it really complicated to actually reprocess things legally. I honestly don't know all the details, except that nuclear waste isn't allowed to be recycled for useful radioisotopes and you aren't supposed to do chemistry or otherwise alter it.

[fnord]

I'm not going to pretend that I understand any of that beyond "yes, it can." But I was actually asking if it was possible, then why don't we bring the stuff up here to do it? Apologies if I botched it and I wasn't clear.

Logistics, probably. Canada has 17 CANDU reactors, but you need to transport, process and load the spent fuel rods, which is first not necessarily economical, second it's a massive logistical headache, third the US has something like 60+ nuke power plants (most with more than one reactor) operating and spewing forth nuclear waste, so there's probably simply not enough capacity to use it all in CANDUs.

The DUPIC cycle also destroys 90% of the transuranic isotopes in the half-used fuel, 60% on a net basis, while extracting roughly double the energy the original PWR did, the resultant twice-used fuel rod having a lower heat load (and thus takes up less repository space). As for the fuel feed, keep in mind 3 PWR MW are needed to feed one CANDU MW using said cycle.

As for requirements, the US PWR fleet (70 out of 100-odd operating power reactors) is roughly 65 GW installed capacity - so by that rule of thumb, 22 GW of CANDU capacity would need to be dedicated to munching their half-used fuel to keep pace. Operating Canadian CANDU capacity is 12.5 GW (17 units) - not enough to keep pace, but enough to alleviate the problems of the sites with fullest half-used fuel pools.

Would probably have to sell the plan to Soviet Canuckistan on the fuel-supply angle - Uncle Sam pays a tipping fee, and takes away the twice-used fuel when it's done with up north. All the while, Canuckistani reactors, now at least partly running on ex-US half-used fuel, keep ticking over.

As to why not? Well, take your pick - politics, pants-on-head-retarded fossil-funded environist groups like Greenpeace, regulators on both sides that could stand to be significantly more competent, to name a few.