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August 19, 2005
Yucca Mountain exposure'SMALL' PERCENTAGE OF NUKE WASTE CANISTERS WILL LEAKBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Without special precautions, spent nuclear fuel contained in these damaged tubes could trigger chemical reactions when extracted from protective canisters in preparation for long-term storage, according to an Energy Department study obtained by the newspaper under the federal Freedom of Information Act. Completed in March by the Energy Department and outside engineers, the study concluded the department had not fully evaluated the hazards associated with handling damaged fuel at the site, nor designed a process for effectively managing it. "It is rather late in the day for these people to be thinking about this stuff," said Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear engineer and president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. "It is truly astonishing that they have not thought about this issue thoroughly a quarter of a century after serious work on repositories began.'" Earlier this year, DOE officials abandoned a 2010 opening date for the repository, saying it could be 2012 or later before Yucca Mountain could begin accepting nuclear waste. The government plans to bury 77,000 tons of highly radioactive waste at the Yucca Mountain site, located in Nye County roughly 50 miles northeast of Pahrump, with a population of roughly 34,000 and growing, and 20 miles north and east, respectively, from Amargosa Valley and Beatty. "There have been a lot of meetings on this,'' a DOE official wrote in an e-mail to the Review-Journal on condition of anonymity. "You are talking about design, and you can't have a license application without a design." The tubes carrying the spent fuel are expected to arrive at Yucca Mountain at a rate of about 9,000 per year for 25 years. About 4 percent are expected to have varying degrees of damage, according to the study. Most are expected to be identified through reactor records, but a small percentage, about 0.4 percent, are expected to have unknown or undetected damage that could allow the fuel to oxidize and possibly trigger a chemical reaction during the storage process. Although machinery and robots would handle the tasks, workers would be present. The study identified areas to research, including the rates at which fuel might degrade, the potential exposure risk for workers and the chances of a chemical reaction. "The process for handling failed fuel in damaged fuel cans is not yet detailed in current design documents, and the related hazards have not yet been evaluated," the study said. Among the options considered by DOE is the addition of pools at the repository to handle damaged fuel rods underwater, a process currently used at nuclear power plants, according to the Review-Journal. Bob Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said it appears DOE has overlooked an important safety issue. DOE "has not thought through the issues of the surface operations, from what we've seen," said Loux, who coordinates Nevada's opposition to the repository. If DOE decides to install such pools, it would create questions about earthquake vulnerability, Loux said. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, a Yucca Mountain opponent, said the study proves the project is flawed and should not move forward. "At no point while moving waste off site, to transportation to proposed storage, can DOE protect workers and communities from being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation," Reid said. |
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