Tag: nuclear energy

Reusing Spent Nuclear Fuel

  • According to the government, GNEP is an evolving U.S. global nuclear strategy aimed at reducing global dependence on fossil fuels; providing reliable, abundant energy necessary for economic growth, prosperity and health; utilizing international expertise to advance technologies and safeguards; and reducing the risk of nuclear proliferation. (Photo courtesy Idaho National Laboratory)

A U.S. Department of Energy initiative to reprocess spent nuclear
reactor fuel is trying to find a home for a facility. Fred Kight
reports the Bush administration says the plan is a means to safely
expand nuclear energy. Critics of the initiative say it’s unsafe and
unwise:

Transcript

A U.S. Department of Energy initiative to reprocess spent nuclear
reactor fuel is trying to find a home for a facility. Fred Kight
reports the Bush administration says the plan is a means to safely
expand nuclear energy. Critics of the initiative say it’s unsafe and
unwise:


The Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or GNEP, would collect spent
nuclear rods from reactors and process them for re-use in the U.S. and
other countries.


Supporters, such as Henry Spitz of the University of Cincinnati, say the
program will allow more reliance on nuclear energy while reducing the
amount of waste generated by power plants:


“GNEP is an essential program if the U.S. is to become less dependent upon
foreign sources of energy.”


But opponents, such as Linda Buskin Jergens, say a facility to reprocess
spent nuclear fuel could make it easier to obtain plutonium for nuclear
weapons:


“Are we creating here a target for terrorism?”


The Department of Energy is studying 11 sites across the nation for the
reprocessing plant.


For the Environment Report, I’m Fred Kight.

Related Links

New Nuke Plants North of the Border?

As many as eight new nuclear reactors might be built over the next twenty years if recommendations are acted on north of the border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports… dwindling energy supplies have put Ontario’s new government in a corner, and political leaders say there may be little choice but to build more nuclear plants:

Transcript

As many as eight new nuclear reactors might be built over the next twenty years if
recommendations are acted on north of the border. As the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan
Karpenchuk reports, dwindling energy supplies have put Ontario’s new government in a corner,
and political leaders say there may be little choice but to build more nuclear plants:


Dwight Duncan is Ontario’s new Energy Minister.


And in a recent speech to business leaders in Toronto, he said his biggest challenge is to rebuild
the province’s capacity to provide power over the next twenty years.


His government has promised to close coal burning generating stations by 2007. In addition, all
of the province’s nuclear plants will reach the end of their natural lives by about 2020 unless
they’re refurbished. Government officials predict a huge energy shortfall unless decisions are
made soon.


And Duncan says that could mean more nuclear plants, despite opposition from
environmentalists.


“Absolutely, there’s a body of opinion in this province that I imagine would oppose any nuclear,
and that will be a debate if we go down that route, we will all have to engage in.”


Atomic Energy of Canada, a federal government corporation, is pushing a 12-billion dollar
proposal to build four pairs of new nuclear reactors in Ontario over the next twenty years. Those
plants would produce energy at a cost cheaper than natural gas fired plants or wind energy. The
problem is that they represent a new generation of reactors that use more enriched uranium than
their predecessors.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.

Related Links

Canada to Restart Nuke Program?

The debate over nuclear energy in the Great Lakes Region will likely heat up again in the coming months. In Canada, three reactors are coming back online after they were closed for years, and as the Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Dan Karpenchuk reports, a new nuclear power plant might be built:

Transcript

The debate over nuclear energy in the Great Lakes Region will likely heat up again in the coming
months. Ontario is about to bring three reactors back on line after they were closed for years.
And as Dan Karpenchuk reports, the province is also considering building a new nuclear power
plant:


Ontario is facing an energy crunch. Demand during the summer months, last year, had tested the
province’s reserves to the limit, and an especially cold winter has placed even more demands on
the system.


Now Ontario premier, Ernie Eves, says he’s considering new ways of dealing with the energy
shortage and nothing will be left out.


“That includes everything from wind power to large nuclear projects.”


Bruce Power owns two nuclear plants on the shores of Lake Huron. Recently its President,
Duncan Hawthorne, met with Ontario officials and made it clear his company wants to be
involved in any new nuclear projects.


“We’ve got a strong capable workforce, we’ve got every favorable community around us, we’ve
got a formula that we can build on.”


But environmental groups and opposition politicians were quick to denounce the plan, saying the
industry does not have a good record.


They say Ontario has some of the oldest reactors in North America. And history has shown that
every time a nuclear plant has been built in the province, the cost overruns have been enormous,
with taxpayers ending up with the bill.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Dan Karpenchuk.

Stocking Up on Nuke Accident Pills

The federal government is offering to buy special anti-cancer pills for people who live near nuclear power plants. There are 24 nuclear power plants in the Great Lakes states… and state officials are now pondering whether to accept the offer. In Ohio, the debate reflects the pro and con arguments across the region. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Bill Cohen has details:

Monitoring System on Hand for Bioterrorism

Scientists who monitor pollutants in rain and snow in the U.S. are offering their monitoring network to be used in the event of a wide scale bioterrorist attack. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein has more:

Transcript

Scientists who monitor pollutants in rain and snow in the U.S. and Great Lakes are offering their monitoring network to be used in the event of a wide scale bioterrorist attack. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s David Sommerstein has more.


The National Atmospheric Deposition Program is best known for its early detection of acid rain in the 1970s. It has a network of over 200 sites that measure chemicals like sulfur dioxides and mercury in precipitation. But coordinator Van Bowersox says the network could also be used in the case of an environmental emergency to trace things like anthrax spore.


“To help track perhaps the source of the material or perhaps just how wide dispersed the material may be. So this would be, for example, for a widespread release of a bioterrorism agent over a broad area.”


Bowersox says the samples of such agents would be sent to a special laboratory for analysis.


The idea wouldn’t be an unprecedented use for the network. The NADP surveyed the nation’s atmosphere for nucleotides following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. It also measured the amount of particles in the air after the eruption of Mount St. Helens.


For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m David Sommerstein.

D.O.E. To Melt Down Spent Fuel

The U-S Department of Energy will dispose of spent nuclear fuel instead of reprocessing it. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… some environmentalists and anti-nuke groups are applauding the decision:

Commentary – Floating Nukes

Russia has recently begun construction on a floating nuclear power
plant, designed to bring electricity to remote northern regions of that
country. Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston
wonders
what could happen if we brought these floating plants to the Great
Lakes:

Transcript

Okay, so on the surface it sounds like a really bad idea. Build
floating nuclear power plants, with dependable Russian nuclear
technology, and dot them along the shore of the Arctic Ocean. Sort of
like a little fleet of mini-Chernobyls-to-go. Critics are saying that
these barges will be sitting ducks, waiting for terrorists to tow
them away. And then there’s that ever-present threat to the
environment.


But I say, let’s not be hasty here. I think there’s a potential for
using these barges in the Great Lakes. First of all, they could help
us get rid of our nuclear waste problem. What Russia plans to do
with the spent fuel is tow the barges into shore every dozen years
and unload it. But I say flip it around. Take all the waste from our
land-locked plants and stick it on the barge.


This would solve no end of problems. No more worrying about burying
it in a mountain somewhere. Problem solved at a fraction of the cost.
We actually could float the stuff in the water around the barge,
which would solve another major environmental problem. There’s been
so much concern about invading species in the Great Lakes. A good
dose of radiation should render even the hardiest invader sterile.
Another problem solved.


And that’s just the beginning. The glow from all this spent fuel
would light up the water around the reactor. This would make it a lot
easier for sports fishermen to see what they’re doing. After all,
nobody’s supposed to eat the fish they catch from the Great Lakes,
anyway. If we keep the barges nice and close to the shoreline, they’d
light up those dark and dangerous beaches. We’d save on energy and we
wouldn’t have to worry about lighting bonfires. That would put an end
to all those rowdy beach parties. The glow would also help boaters
find their docks at night. No more search and rescue. Another bonus.


The more I think about it, the more I have to admit, this is one hot
idea. You gotta hand it to those Russians. I wonder what they’ll
think of next.


Suzanne Elston is a syndicated columnist living in Courtice, Ontario. She comes to us by way of the

Great Lakes Radio Consortium.

Commentary – It Can’t Happen Here

In the wake of the recent Japanese and Korean nuclear accidents, North
American experts were quick to point out that it couldn’t happen here.
Great Lakes Radio Consortium commentator Suzanne Elston disagrees:

Canada to Accept Cold War Plutonium

Canada is telling the U-S and Russia it’s willing to accept plutonium
from dismantled nuclear warheads. The Canadian Prime Minister says its
Canada’s way of helping destroy the nuclear arsenal. The Great Lakes
Radio Consortium’s Lester Graham reports… some Canadians don’t want to
help if it means shipping weapons grade plutonium through their
communities:

Nuking Nuclear Waste

Finding a way to safely dispose of nuclear waste has been a problem that
has plagued the nuclear industry since the Cold War. But as the Great
Lakes Radio Consortium’s Suzanne Elston has discovered, a physicist from
Boise, Idaho has plans to give nuclear waste a taste of its own
medicine.