65,000 metric tons of radioactive waste

[spanone]

1 metric ton = 2204 lbs.

65,000 X 2204 = 143,260,000 lbs.


radioactive waste stored onsight at nuclear reactors across the country.

just reported on NBC Nightly News.

[Urban Prairie]

1. So maybe in ten years or so...

there will be enough to give each US citizen a pound of their very own nuke waste!!

I would be willing, however, to donate my "share" to Ann Coulter or someone of her ilk who believes that it is harmless and actually beneficial.

[spanone]

2. the ultimate nuke killing machine - the gift that keeps on giving

[TheWraith]

3. What they don't tell you is that 97% of that "waste" is usable fuel.

By mass, 97% of that stuff if the same fuel it was when it went into the reactors. In Europe, they reprocess used fuel rods to remove the fission byproducts which make it impossible to continue using those same fuel rods, thus recycling the same fuel over and over, and reducing their waste problem by well over 97%. Incidentally, some of the byproduct isotopes have industrial or medical uses.

Here, though, it's cheap to simply store the stuff and buy fresh uranium on the international market.

[bananas]

4. No, they don't recycle the same fuel over and over. nt

[bananas]

5. Less than 4% of French nuclear fuel "recycled"

You just can't trust the nuclear industry.
http://www.fissilematerials.org/blog/2010/09/less_than_4_of_french_nuc.html

[spanone]

6. this was stored in sealed stainless steel containers under 3 feet of concrete

or in water pools with 23 feet of water over them kept at 90 degrees according to the story

this was because there is no repository in the u.s.

not to be recycled

[bvar22]

7. It can't happen here!

"It can't happen here
It can't happen here
I'm telling you, my dear
That it can't happen here
Because I been checkin' it out, baby
I checked it out a couple a times

But I'm telling you
It can't happen here
Oh darling, it's important that you believe me
(Bop bop bop bop)
That it can't happen here."---Zappa