SoCal nuclear reactor to face problems

Apr 24 - Redlands Daily Facts (CA)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently announced a delay until May or June in the decision whether to restart Southern California's troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant. San Onofre's reactors have not produced electricity since January 2012.

Its Nuclear Generating Station was shut down due to safety concerns when a radiation leak detected in one of the plant's reactors led to the discovery of unusual damage to hundreds of tubes that carry radioactive water.

But that's not its only problem. It has 1,400 tons of spent nuclear fuel stored at its coastal site with no permanent repository available for disposal of this nuclear waste. And San Onofre is only the tip of the radioactive iceberg.

Nine former U.S. nuclear power plants have been shut down so far, abandoning vast amounts of nuclear waste on their sites. In the next 15 years another 40 aging nuclear reactors may have to shut down, leaving their accumulated waste on site.

About 75 percent of San Onofre's spent fuel is submerged in pools. Many such reactor pools in the U.S. contain up to five times as much nuclear waste as they were designed to handle.

Storing nuclear waste in pools was part of the problem at the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, when the operators were unable to circulate water to cool the fuel in its waste pools.

If spent fuel assemblies at a nuclear plant such as San Onofre become exposed to air and thus self-ignite, thousands of people within 50 miles of the plant could die from the radiation released, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The U.S. now has 70,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel lacking safe storage, not including high-level waste from the nuclear weapons program.

In addition, we need to dispose of more than 30 tons of excess weapons-grade plutonium at six different sites across the U.S.

An underground repository for nuclear waste was planned for Yucca Mountain, Nevada. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves its development, it would still take decades to construct.

Most of the U.S. nuclear plants, however, are in the Eastern half of the country - none of them are located in Nevada.

This means that thousands of tons of radioactive waste would have to be transported all across the nation to Nevada by train or truck.

Given the number of truck and train accidents each year, the danger of radioactive spills throughout the U.S. is staggering, particularly when you consider the loss of life resulting from just one nuclear spill.

And nuclear waste traveling from San Onofre to Nevada would certainly pass through Riverside and/or San Bernardino on its way over the Cajon Pass.

In its thirst for profitable energy, the U.S. has planted the equivalent of a leaking nuclear bomb in each of 100 reactor locations across our land - something Iran and North Korea could never achieve.

Obamacare aids Red states more than Blue

A Kaiser study covering every zip code in America shows that Red states in the South and the Rocky Mountain region will benefit the most from Obamacare, whereas Blue states, particularly in New England and the Far West, will benefit the least.

Obama budget provides needed science research

Although more savings are needed in certain of Obama's budget requests, some increases are also essential. One example of this is the U.S. Geological Survey budget.

The total budget request for USGS is $1.167 billion, an increase of $98.8 million above the 2012 enacted level.

This request funds science to support the safe and responsible development of domestic energy, to protect critical water resources and ecosystems, to respond to natural disasters, and to advance our understanding and resilience to the effects of climate change.

The budget includes cuts to programs that aren't creating a lot of tangible effects for citizens as well as some administrative cuts, but the top priorities received budget increases

USGS research money helps expand both traditional and newer energy sources.

Wars, tax cuts comprise half of U.S. debt by 2019

The cost of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, plus the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, will comprise virtually half the U.S. debt by 2019, according to a February analysis by the Center on Budget Policy and Priorities.

Howard Hurlbut is an emeritus professor of the University of Redlands and a resident of Redlands

http://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/ 

http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=28366397