I hate to sound like a broken record, but.....

The Callaway Nuclear Energy Plant ( I refuse to call it "Callaway Energy Center ) is seeking a twenty year extension from the NRC on its operating license and public hearings are now being held by the NRC as they take this matter under consideration.

Here is a link to an article which ran in The Fulton Sun yesterday. Let me excerpt a portion of that article which for me is of great concern.

For Missouri Coalition for the Environment Safe Energy Director Ed Smith, the way the Callaway plant stored its used nuclear fuel rods was of greater concern.

As nuclear fuel is used and irradiated in a reactor, the radioactive rods left behind are stored on-site in deep pools of water, which the NRC's website nrc.gov states cools the fuel and shields workers from radiation. Though the spent fuel is typically moved to dry storage after five to 10 years in the pools, the Callaway plant's pool is expected to be at capacity by 2020. 

Smith cited another NRC study related to the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania that stated "even a small spent nuclear fuel pool fire could leave 9,400 square miles uninhabitable and displace 4.1 million people," and that based on his understanding of the regulations, the NRC was basing its spent fuel storage standards on outdated research conducted by the NRC before large-scale fallout events such as the Fukushima nuclear disaster brought on by the 2011 tsunami in Japan. 

"I'm curious what the plan is for six years from now," Smith said. "They're not going to have a national repository for spent fuel ready in six years, I guarantee that."

For the life of me I don't know why people don't get it. What we do with our spent nuclear waste is a number one priority, or should be. Yet everyone goes on their merry way continually ignoring this basic fact.

You do not add more waste until you find a safe and permanent solution to handling the nuclear waste we currently aren't dealing with.

Further on that subject here is a good article from the New York Times (hat tip to friend Keith for sending it on to me) which talks a bit more about Nuclear Waste From New Mexico Lab May Go To Texas.

Remember folks the waste they are talking about in this instance is "barrels of plutonium-contaminated clothing, tools, rags and other debris". This gives you a good idea just how toxic this stuff is.

"Removing waste from the mesa in Los Alamos before fire season is critical to ensure safety in the greater Los Alamos community," Udall said in a statement Thursday. "I'm pleased we have a temporary solution that will ensure there will not be any significant disruption in cleanup efforts."

We can't give up on this people. "Temporary" is not a solution.