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11 de mayo de 2017

CEMETERY .... NO NUCLEAR THANKS

Thursday, May 11, 2017




Radioactive waste


The fact that the continued use of nuclear energy despite the terrible legacy left for future generations , says a lot about who drive it . 

And that not the opinion of the population is taken into account whatsoever for managing  the waste that already exist. 

The  nuclear industry considered radioactive waste  any material containing radionuclides  in concentrations higher than those established by competent authorities and for which there is no provision use.

Radioactive waste can be classified in many different ways according to their characteristics, such as its physical state (whether they are gases, liquids or solids), the type of radiation emitted (alpha, beta or gamma), the period half-life (short, medium or long life), and (low. medium, high) specific activity.

It is normal to see them waste classified in low, medium and high activity, although in some countries each type separately managed  in Spain only two categories are

those of  low and medium  activity on theone hand and of  high  other.

Low and medium :

The  waste medium and low activity come from mining, fuel cycle and irradiating substances in nuclear and radioactive facilities . 

They are less dangerous than high-level waste, but much more bulky. One means reactor is to generate 6,220 m3 throughout his life. 

Some of them are generated in social utility facilities, and radioactive facilities for medical use (X-ray machines, radiation therapy, etc. 

However, these are a minority (eg US residues low and intermediate from medical use are 2% of the total and containing 1% of the radioactivity).

A wide variety of materials can be waste of low and medium activity from gloves, clothing, tools, etc., which have been in contact with highly radioactive material, even material from the decommissioning of nuclear facilities.

The  life of the waste medium and low varies greatly from one another,  since tens of years to hundreds of thousands of years. 

Intermediate level waste and long life are the materials in contact with the reactor fuel. 

An important example is the radioactive graphite reactor gas cooled graphite moderated, like  Vandellós . 

In graphite it is present, especially the carbon-14 , a radioactive isotope with a time half life of  5370 years , which becomes very problematic storage with the rest of the waste medium and low.

There are currently 20,074 m3 of waste of medium and low activity that are stored in the plants , in  El Cabril (Córdoba)  and Juzbado (Salamanca)  and will be managed 203,600 m3 when nuclear power plants now operating are canceled, many more If they prolong his life as claimed by the nuclear industry.

high :

The  HLW constitute 1% of the total , but containing 95% of the radioactivity generated. 

They are spent fuel from nuclear power plants and nuclear warheads from nuclear missiles and bombs. They are the most dangerous and those with longer life .

Emit radiation for thousands of years and have a very high toxicity . 

In Spain they are mainly generated in nuclear power plants, as the uranium fuel used in these turns, after use in high-activity radioactive waste.

Among these wastes is the  plutonium-239 , a radioactive isotope  by man for making atomic bombs created  (not previously existed in nature). 

Of  immense toxicity ,  a single gram of this element is capable of causing  cancer  to one million people . 

This isotope emits radioactivity for about 250,000 years , which means 25 times longer than the known history of mankind.

These huge periods of activity force us to think of other scales of time and the many generations yet to come, they will have to overcome the legacy of irresponsible radioactive waste. 

This time scale is so impressive that we can consider it an eternity. 

We can compare it to other times: the cultural history of humanity has no more than 10,000 years Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert (USA..), where high-level waste already deposited, it was a volcano assets 20,000 years ago, 5,000 years ago the Sahara was a green oasis, 10,000 years ago there were active volcanoes in the center of France and 7,000 years ago there was the English channel. 

The high level wastes are toxic for about 250,000 years

Radioactivity or smell, or see, or hear.Although you can measure certain types of meters, it is impossible to suppress. 

The consequences of exposure to high radioactivity are fatal to humans. 

It is proven that it can cause death, and at lower doses, causes cancer, genetic diseases and disorders that affect very seriously the affected offspring. 

In the sixty years of existence of the nuclear and despite huge investments energy, no one has managed to give a satisfactory to the problem of high activity radioactive waste solution. 

Of all the problems associated with the use of nuclear energy, which advise their immediate abandonment, this may be the determining factor.
Hazardous waste is the Achilles heel of nuclear power plants. 

These lethal waste is accumulating at nuclear power plants worldwide. Also in Spain. The nuclear industry does not know what to do with them. 

Desperate for the huge volume of radioactive waste and the high cost of management, they have tried and try to solve your problem in different ways trying to "especially" to fix the cheapest way for them.

Where are the lethal waste

Low and Medium : 

In Spain, currently, in the  cemetery of El Cabril , located in the Sierra de Hornachuelos (Córdoba) , it is the nuclear cemetery waste of low and medium activity, even though at first it was said that there no waste would be stored from nuclear power plants, but only radioactive facilities. 

In 1992 its capacity from 15,000 to 300,000 barrels expanded. The Cabril is not, nor much less, an appropriate site to install a graveyard of nuclear waste for several reasons:

high : 

Except for certain amounts that were sent to reprocess the UK in the 70s, and fuel used by Vandellós I (closed) definitely after the accident 1989 also was sent to France for the same purpose, the  waste  of high activity, are stored time, and transiently,  in nuclear plants themselves , in a facility known as waste pools .






Tragedies in Almacenamientos

  • In September 1987, the inhabitants of Goiania, Brazil , they found a  unknown machine abandoned in a landfill . They opened it and found inside a white powder, a few hours after the first were the first victims, that dust was  Cesium 137  (CsCl), a white powder resembling table salt, in the darkness illuminated with a blue , a highly radioactive material that should have been stored under close surveillance. The Brazilian government was forced to put the entire population under radiological control. Almost 300 people were affected. Those who died of radiation were buried in lead coffins 608 kilos under several layers of cement.
  • Cemeteries low - level waste from the United States and the  Carisbad (New Mexico)  for highly radioactive waste have been leaks and geological problems.
  • In Russian radioactive warehouses they have also produced severe accidents. The dumping of waste into the river Tetchaduring the period 1948-1951, involved the contamination of 124,000 people, and the evacuation of 7,500 others who occupied highly contaminated soils.
The most serious accident occurred on September 29, 1957, in the  storage plant Kishtim (USSR) , when exploding a container with 160 m3 of waste, contaminated with some 2 million curies an area of 1,000 km2. 

The accident forced the immediate evacuation of 10,700 people. Official secrecy has prevented know the number of victims of the accident . 

Radioactive materials accumulated on Lake Karachay dispersed with the drought of 1967, as a result, 1,800 km2 were contaminated. 

Still in 1991, remain one hour in this area supposed to receive a lethal radiation dose

Recently, the deputy director of the Mayak plant, told a government commission: We can not guarantee the safety of people living downstream of the Techa River. Lake Karachay is recognized as the most polluted place on the planet

In this area the Russian Atomic Ministry, Minatom, want to download and store more nuclear waste in the coming years. 

The Russian government has annulled the ban on the import of nuclear waste. 

They are making plans to import 20,000 tons of nuclear waste in exchange for more than US $ 20 billion 

Potential exporting countries are:  Japan South Korea, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Hungary, Swiss, Germany and Spain.




  • On April 20, 1973 no one paid any particular attention to the tank T 106 in the area 200 Western Reserve  Hanford (USA) . Built of reinforced concrete with an alignment carbon steel on its bottom and sides, is cylindrical in shape, about 23 meters in diameter and 10 deep and is sunk into the ground with about two meters of land on its roof dome shape. 
In April 1973, the tank 106 T containing radioactive HLW from the reprocessing plant fuel Purex with about 1.5 million liters, primarily in liquid form. 

Between April 20 and June 8, tank 106 T let out to the ground, more or less fully 435,000 liters of radioactive liquid containing about 40,000 curies  Cesium 137 , 14000 curies of strontium-90  and 4 curies of  plutonium . 

The leak was the eleventh recorded in Hanford, would not be the last.





  • In November 1978 Soviet dissident biologist (jarring) Jaures Medvedev reported a supposed catastrophe produced in the Soviet region of Chelyabinsk in the South Urals , as a result of having experienced a critical condition at a treatment plant or storage of radioactive waste . One of the first and even greater than Chernobyl ( 1986) was the catastrophe in  Chelyabinsk (and was not the only one) . The catastrophe would have taken place in late 1957 or early 1958 , ( Mayak ) would have caused the death of hundreds of people and have contaminated a large area. CIA reports confirmed, without further explanation, this catastrophe,





  • In 1993 there were two serious accidents in former Soviet facilities that caused the ensuing radiation leaks in tanks  Tomsk (in April). On July 18 the same year there was another radioactive leak at the plant Tcheliabinsk , which also processes radioactive waste, on August 2, another accident in the store Tcheliabinsk 40. The list of accidents in radioactive waste repositories increases dangerously .Estimates of its consequences are shocking: 450,000 infected people, of whom more than 50,000 have received significant doses. Again  Mayak  (in July), which highlighted the safety of deposits in the former USSR.
Storages.  Shuffled possibilities. Where are generated
  • Burial in the seabed
The waste would bury under sediments on the ocean floor. 

This presents problems that are not recoverable waste or controllable and numerous transport should occur with the risk of accident. 

Encase radioactive waste in containers or cans and expect to remain closed until eternity, it is a total naivete. 

The dumping of radioactive waste at sea was a common practice since the 1950s. 

At the end of the decade, there were several controversies about these spills off the coasts of the United States authorized by the companies  Atomic Energy Commission, and the  Irish Sea  by British companies, and practice increased nuclear proliferation 1980s.

In September 1970, Major J. Cousteau presented to the Council of Europe drums photographs of French radioactive waste submerged in the Atlantic "opening and closing like oysters" . 

Technical anticipated that remain tight and stable.

Since 1993, there  are international laws that prohibit the deposit of high - level waste at sea , despite this legislation, the possibility of using studying  oceanic trenches  as warehouses in different parts of the world. 

It is estimated that the  Atlantic Trench home to more than 140,000 tons of radioactive waste , spills between 1967 and 1983.


Reprocessing plants remain radioactive waste ( Sellafield  and  Dounreay  in  the UK,  La Hague in France ) responsible for 98% of radioactive discharges into the  Atlantic Ocean . 

According to the Declaration of Sindra (07.23.98, Sindra, Portugal) in 2000 would be substantially reduced discharges, and by 2020 they should be close to zero .


However there are three places in the world that are investigated: A  grave near Canary , another near  Azores  and another near New Zealand . 



  • Burial in Antarctic ice
This option has been abandoned for being uncontrollable and unworkable and the signing of international agreements  on protection of Antarctica.


  • Shipping space
This option has been abandoned for obvious reasons: there is more to think about the possibility of an  accident like the ferry estadounidenseChallenger , to take charge of distributing the atmosphere tons of high level waste, each launch would be the threat of a new chernobil. 

In addition this method is so expensive that would mean the immediate closure of nuclear power plants.

  • Transmutation (Transformation)
This process involves turning waste into other  radionuclides  shorter life by bombardment with neutrons. 

It has the drawback that it is very expensive and not yet have assurances that the process effectively reduces the amount of radioactivity, since it is with a certain statistical processes and not always less active isotopes are obtained.

expressly stated by the nuclear industry itself this would not be the solution for radioactive waste. (Meeting of scientists from 18 countries at CIEMAT. September 98).

  • reprocessing
It involves chemical separation of the various waste components for later reuse. 

It could extract the  uranium  unworn and plutonium  for use as fuel for fast reactors or to make atomic bombs.

Also other isotopes are extracted for use as radioactive sources in medical or industrial purposes. 

However  this process is not suitable for solving the problem of waste because only decreases radioactivity typically 3% and, in turn, multiplies the volume of waste by 160.  

It is rather a way to profit from spent fuel. 

They use commercially four countries: 

 France ,  USA .,  England  and  Russia . 

A total of  16 countries have or are planning to reprocess reprocessed fuel . 

Spain sent to reprocess fuel from the Nuclear Power Plant José Cabrera  (known as Zorita) to England and France from Vandellos I .

In addition,  reprocessing plants, have become radioactive biggest polluters of our seas . 

Plant  Sellafield (UK)  planned to get rid of 8,000,000 liters per day, of radioactive waste over the next 20 years. 

The company owns  BNFL. British Nuclear Fuels and  Areva NC, formerly Cogema in France must stop their discharges and clean up polluted for years (Sindra Declaration, July-98). Greenpeace. March-98.

  • Surface storage
This would be the least bad of all. 

Would be the storage of waste in special spaces dedicated to it, always under control and  systems of passive cooling . 

Waste must be confined in special containers with various shields.  

This process has the great advantage that residues are accessible and always kept under control, which could act on them if any problems occur.

It would also give the ability to easily access them if in the future some sort of technique is inactivation or he would do to use. 

It is proposed by non-governmental groups and many scientific method.

Anyway also it has drawbacks .

  • Burial depth (AGP)
The more technical name used is deep geological disposal (AGP).

A nuclear Cemetery is a term sometimes used to refer to places specially prepared to manage a radioactive waste permanently. 

They are designed and underground geological features such areas can be assured that not suffer water leaks that could drag radioisotopes offsite.

Consists of depositing waste in cemeteries a few hundred meters deep (between 500 and 1000 meters) in questionably stable geological formations. Since it is entirely fictitious and irresponsible attempt to predict the behavior geological thousands of years hence.

The  unpredictability of the geological evolution of underground water streams and time must be confined, on the order of thousands of years, ie, hundreds of generations, absolutely advise against this option.

Other situations that technically complicated this solution is that  breakups generate noble gases ,  annually an approximate volume of gas equal to thevolume of waste which will seriously increase the pressure in the container is generated . 

Another serious problem is the  waste heat that is necessary to think in cooling systems or heat diffusion, to avoid waste and containment itself are founded. 

Another major technical problem is  emitted radioactivity itself that causes them tochange the material properties . 

A heavy bombardment of gamma rays becomes brittle materials that were previously tough.


The situation in Spain

The nuclear industry wants to get rid of the problem of high activity waste  building nuclear burial in deep geological formations

In Spain, the entity responsible for managing these wastes is the National Waste Company  Radiactivos 


This national company plans  to build in the near future, facilities for the disposal of radioactive waste in depth , ie nuclear cemeteries (AGP). 

Although still "lying" to the people and accusing us of causing social alarm. 

You might think that ENRESA is dedicated to doing the "dirty work" of the nuclear industry, ie to absorb and finance (with money from all citizens) waste that this industry generates. 

These nuclear cemeteries ( AGP: Deep Geological Disposal ) is the place to be stored for a period of thousands of years nuclear high level waste or long half period. 

You can not paragonar with  temporary storage  (ATC) because the latter represent a temporary solution, and in fact have an average life of only 50 years, and are usually built in anticipation of a final project as a Deep Geological Storage ( AGP).


Tests have been conducted in different subfloors  such as salts and clays presenting insurmountable technical problems, thereby seeking to find granitic areas. 

Granite has the advantage of its high hardness and its primary impermeability. 

However, granite deposits are often affected by intense fracturing that becomes permeable media, which are unpredictable both hydrogeological behavior and the development of fractures in depth. 

Another serious drawback is that it is not known what the geometry depth of the granitic massifs. Recent field studies, together with geophysical modeling and laboratory experimental data show that what batholith (granitic massifs) high vertical continuity of thought are actually unable to guarantee isolation lamellar bodies.

Overall,  the burial presents a number of drawbacks that make it unadvisable . 

The time scale so gigantic of which we speak is about the times of geological evolution.

No one can predict whether or not a volcano act or failure at one site or what will be the model of water flow at a certain point . 

Waste tracking to find out under what conditions is the store at all times  is discarded for economic reasons . 

Moreover,  waste is not easily recoverable, which would be difficult to treat if someone can think of a solution or solve problems of rupture of containers .  

This option is advocated  by ENRESA (although publicly denies it ) and which are continuing to investigate. 

Manifest not have specific projects although models to be applied in Spain are studied.And in the words of their representatives there are places willing to receive them, we do not know are the places to which they refer. 

Yes we know some of the requirements, outside the actual geological, also "shuffled" to your location:

  • The area must not have too much population.
  • Its economy should not be very rich, because if it were, it would be much harder to convince people with the amount of subsidies that include laws for this type of construction.
  • The area should NOT have ecological and tourist attractions.
  • The  associative ability  of citizens residing there NOT be too important, ie they should not be  organized in neighborhood associations or environmental consideration , since in that case the popular response against the construction of warehouses could be much stronger.
The location of a  Centralized Temporary Storage  (ATC)  of nuclear waste in Spain has generated intense political and social debate. 

Municipalities opt to host the nuclear waste storage in Spain, are  Albalá (Cáceres) Santervas de Campos  (Valladolid),    Melgar de Arriba  (Valladolid),   Villar del Pozo (Ciudad Real),   Torrubia     (Soria),     Zarra    (Valencia),    Yebra  (Guadalajara),    Asco (Tarragona),  Villar de Cañas  (Cuenca) and Congosto de Valdavia  (Palencia) and Lomas de Campos (Segovia)  Santiuste de San Juan  and  Field of San Pedro  are also on the official list of candidates they removed his candidacy.

Currently there is only one AGP. Deep Geological Disposal in the world, in New Mexico. WIPP. Waste Isolation Pilot Plant  (Isolation Pilot Plant waste ), but is only used to store military waste in the United States. Route Map WIPP in New Mexico

Are being studied in almost all countries worldwide locations where to build them, the most favorable for this saline soils, clay or granite because of its geological, physical and chemical conditions. 

At the moment it is the only alternative management of waste produced in nuclear fission plants.

Transport

In Spain there is a "long route radioactive". 

If the transport of radioactive materials, fuel and waste from nuclear power plants are unsafe,  the long distances they have to cover multiply the risk . 

Currently, nuclear fuel is unloaded by the port of Algeciras , at the southern end of the peninsula and transported to the factory of the  Empresa Nacional del Uranio  ( ENUSA ) in  Juzbado (Salamanca) . 

From there it is transported to nuclear power plants, which are located in the provinces of:

From these locations, placed in the northern half of the peninsula, the waste is transported to  the nuclear cemetery in El Cabril in Cordoba . 

In total, 8,000 km of radioactive and unsafe route.

In Spain the average waste of low and medium activity is generated monthly 82,885.7 liters (equivalent to 376.75 drums of 220 liters),  which remain hazardous and radioactive for 300 years . 

These residues are gradually being transported in trucks with about 45 drums, the radioactive cemetery in  El Cabril, in the mountains of Cordoba . Drums stored at nuclear plants will mean 1,225 travel, waste produced each year will increase by 100 trips this dangerous movement.

Not even containers and drums of radioactive material can withstand an accident during transport. The tests they are subjected are clearly insufficient. 

Drums for radioactive wastes suffer one drop test from a height of 1.2 meters, and one of impact, dropping from 9 meters on a flat surface. 

However, an accident at 80 km per hour is equivalent to a fall from more than 25 meters. What would happen if the impact is made on edges or protrusions, and in a frontal crash.

The thermal tests involve exposing the packages at temperatures above 800 ° C for 30 minutes. 

However, if a transport radioactive fire, put out the fire is not easy . Recall that  the most important group of the first victims of the Chernobyl disaster was precisely the firefighters ,  V. Právik, Kibénok, Ignatenko, Vaschuck, Tischura, Titenok ...  paid with their lives trying to smother a fire radioactive .

What would have happened if in the unfortunate  accident Mont Blanc tunnel in March 1999  there had been a truck carrying nuclear waste ?. There have reached temperatures above 1000 ° C for many hours. 

It is inevitable that the roads leading to the nuclear graveyard become high-risk locations. The logic is that as dangerous transport are not made, and that residues remain where they are.

Tragedies Transportation

Despite the precautions taken, Air Force aircraft, missiles and satellites of the United States, with radioactive material, have suffered multiple accidents, proving that there is NO safe transport. 

A considerable number of collisions and casualties produced radioactive contamination.

  • Serious events befell in March 1956, when sank  B- 47 aircraft , heading to Florida, with two  warheads  "Florida".
  • In January 1961 a  bomber B - 52  crashes, loaded with two  nuclear bombs  of 24 megatons,  more powerful than Hiroshima thousand times , in North Carolina.
  • In June 1962,  they failed two trials  with nuclear missiles that scattered part of their cargo on Johnston Island in the Pacific, four months later,  collided one B -52 bomber  with an airplane  nurse KC-135, dropping two  atomic bombs  on 24 megatones about Kentucky.
  • In April 1964, to  disperse plutonium an American satellite .
  • In December 1965, when it sank near Okinawa one  aircraft A-4E Skyhawk aircraft carrier USS Ticonderonga loaded with a  bomb .
  • In 1968, a  bomber B- 52 , four  bombs , crashes when approaching the Thule base in Greenland, the fire causes a dispersion of  plutonium  pollutant. Plutonium is sometimes described in media as the most toxic substance known to humans.
Also,  many ships and submarines with atomic reactors or missiles, have sunk both the American fleet, as in Soviet. 

  • In 1959, the US Navy sank in the Atlantic elements of the  reactor of the submarine USS Seawolf (SSN- 575) 120 miles from Maryland. 
  • In April 1963, the  nuclear submarine Thresher (SSN- 593) sinks within 100 miles of Massachusetts, with 129 people on board. 
  • In May 1968, the submarine USS Scorpion (SSN- 589), with a crew of 99 people, sinking, with two  nuclear torpedoes Astor, 400 miles from the Azores. 
  • Also  the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet has suffered more than 25 serious accidents . 
  • Transporting  radioactive material , it sank in March 1968 the submarine Yankee 2 (129 K) type, with nearly 100 victims. 
  • In April 1970  it sank in the Bay of Biscay November submarine (K- 8) , killing 52 people. 
  • In June 1983  the submarine Charlie 2 (K- 429) sank  in the Pacific Fleet and April 1989,  the Komsomolets (K-278) , leaving the Norwegian Sea 42 dead.
Also,  many ships and submarines with atomic reactors or missiles, have sunk both the American fleet, as in Soviet. 

  • In 1959, the US Navy sank in the Atlantic elements of the  reactor of the submarine USS Seawolf (SSN- 575) 120 miles from Maryland. 
  • In April 1963, the  nuclear submarine Thresher (SSN- 593) sinks within 100 miles of Massachusetts, with 129 people on board. 
  • In May 1968, the submarine USS Scorpion (SSN- 589), with a crew of 99 people, sinking, with two  nuclear torpedoes Astor, 400 miles from the Azores. 
  • Also  the Soviet nuclear submarine fleet has suffered more than 25 serious accidents . 
  • Transporting  radioactive material , it sank in March 1968 the submarine Yankee 2 (129 K) type, with nearly 100 victims. 
  • In April 1970  it sank in the Bay of Biscay November submarine (K- 8) , killing 52 people. 
  • In June 1983  the submarine Charlie 2 (K- 429) sank  in the Pacific Fleet and April 1989,  the Komsomolets (K-278) , leaving the Norwegian Sea 42 dead.
Not all accidents have occurred in remote locations. One of the most serious happened very close. 

  • It occurred on January 17, 1966 , the collision in flight of a bomber B- 52 base Symour Johnson, four  bombs  1.5 megatones board, and KC 135 tanker aircraft from the  base Moron above the village of  Palomares (Almería) .Palomares accident occurs at 9,000 meters and  the remains are scattered in an area of 260 km2 .
  • Fortunately the  atomic explosion , which would have been  equivalent to 6,000 bombs dropped on Hiroshima and does not occur. Detonators two bombs exploded in the fall, scattering on fields Palomares plutonium contamination .Despite the declared secret, official reports recognized that citizens of the area had been contaminated by plutonium highly  radioactive .The Plutonium is sometimes described in the media as the most toxic substance known to humans. The last bomb was lost in the Mediterranean Sea, not having been recovered


In addition to military catastrophes, they have also produced "civilians" accidents. 

  • The British government  authorized the clandestine transport , on regular flights, radioactive waste , in boxes that  were traveling as "diplomatic bag ".
  • Own  Council of Spanish Nuclear Safety recognizes that "a consignment of radioactive material was involved in a serious crash." 
  • On August 25, 1984, in the EnglishChannel,  they collided German ferry Olau Britannia, with 935 passengers on board, and the French freighter Mont Louis , owned by the  Compagnie Général des Matiéres Nucléaires (COGEMA)  and company  electric Belgian Synatom , loaded with 375 tons of  uranium hexafluoride , divided into 60 containers.Alarm mounted in the Canal. Recovery work deposits capsized freighter lasted until 4 October.
  • An example of the riskiness of radioactive transport is provided by the "Odyssey" of the  Akatsuki Maru, which between November and December 1992 , transported ton and a half of  plutonium from Cherbourg (France) to Tokai (Japan). A journey of 25,000km nonstop because many countries closed their borders to which "was called floating Chernobyl , " even countries with nuclear power plants, such as Brazil, Argentina or South Africa.
The road does not provide more security to the transport of radioactive substances

  • On December 19, 1980 an accident occurs in a transport of  plutonium  and other radioactive materials on Highway 25 (US). 
  • On November 2, 1982 a military truck with a  Pershing missile -1 crashed in Walprechtsmeier (Germany), a citizen waskilled, two soldiers were wounded and two hundred thousand people were evacuated.
  • In September 1984, another transport suffered an accident on German roads, this time with a  Pershing missile - II. On 20 June 1985, two trucks with warheads collide Helensburgh (Scotland).
  • On January 10, 1987 an accident occurs in a convoy of ten trucks loaded with nuclear weapons , near Salisbury (Great Britain). 
  • Again on May 5, 1987 transport a Pershing missile  US military suffered an accident in Heilbronn (Germany).
Rutasde transfer of residuosradiactivosa Russia


Are there alternatives?


The antinuclear movement recognizes existing nuclear waste as a serious problem to look for solution. However, the problem is twofold because none of the proposed solutions appear to be satisfactory. 

When we are accused of being irresponsible for not contributing to the solution, or we are accused of promoting social alarm to oppose the construction of a reservoir, they forget that the best way to minimize the problem of waste is to stop producing, It ie the closure of nuclear power plants.

The first step that must be taken to solve the problem of radioactive waste is to stop it worse, that is, cease to produce indefinitely and unlimitedly more and more radioactive waste. There is no technical solution to this problem. The only answer is not to produce more waste. 

Thus it minimizes would be achieved. 

It should be clear that this is the only responsible approach and logical about it even before starting to discuss how they should be managing the already generated.

The big problem causing radioactive waste was the cause of several countries to adopt a non-nuclear energy policy. 

While the Spanish State can no longer be as responsible how are you other nations on this issue, since it has made us one of the ten most-nuclear countries in the world and, therefore, one of the largest stocks of radioactive waste, it can move in that direction by paralyzing production.

However, it is not impossible that someday discover how to remove radioactivity, although investigations are going slowly, you can even find the way to reuse spent fuel a not so distant option because Japan is beginning to be investigated, or find some new formula to take advantage of waste.

Storage pools


The remains of nuclear fuel is stored under water, which acts as coolant and as biological shield in pools covered with plastics or stainless steel concrete. 

Since the Spanish nuclear power plants became operational, they are stored temporarily in pools built on them for storage. It is a temporary solution.

 And storage surface?

The lack of knowledge about the geology that scientists still have, has led many experts on radioactive waste to be given more choice, temporary storage on the surface. 

Thus, they could always take advantage of new technologies as they emerge, could be exercised far greater control over the waste or, ultimately, they could remain this way wastes until such time that technology and science have advanced enough to build a warehouse with total safety. This is the option that seems to prevail as greater possibilities.

The storage area is, of course, the benefits of which can be controlled residues and these are accessible at any time. 

Deposits could be places where generated, ie, the plants themselves, which transports be deleted. 

Moment would have to resort to the active cooling by water circulated by pumps, but perhaps eventually progress in media passive heat and can be performed dry storage. 

But the storage surface has the serious drawback that deposits are subject to the vagaries of the human species on earth.

This solution is rejected by the nuclear industry because it is much more expensive for them than burial, as it involves uninterrupted maintenance and monitoring, as well as being the legal responsible for them. 

This would mean possibly the closure of nuclear power plants for two main reasons: 

First, because the storage capacity of waste in plants is limited, since not been designed for that purpose, and would have to close down the plant when it would satisfy. 

Second, price and management responsibility would fall on the plant itself, which would increase the price of energy generated.

Documentary film. The nightmare of nuclear waste

Distribution Graph nuclear power plants

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