"When fairies go nuclear & we help each other"
"I know why the kobito fairies look different in Japan!" said the moose this morning. "The kobito in Japan look different because of the nuclear bomb at Hiroshima!"My heart skipped a beat. We have previously discussed that kobito do not look like any fairies I have ever seen or those in any other picture books we have. The closest one is the mushroom cap headed kobito that resembles the elfs in Elsa Beskow's Children of the Forest. Take a look for yourself. Even kids seek to make sense of the world." ~ from Consider the Thought Blog
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I often go to the website of Ameren Missouri to see what they are saying publicly about nuclear power. They are the nuclear power plant operator in this state of mine. The plant is called Callaway Nuclear Power Plant #1 and there is great desire to bring a second nuclear plant in the near future.
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Callaway Plant Frequently Asked Questions
From Ameren Missiouri Website: July 20, 2011
What you see coming out of the cooling tower is clean water vapor, not steam. The water vapor that is produced is not part of the radioactive process.
Callaway Plant became operational in December 1984. The NRC granted a 40-year operating license, which is the customary license for nuclear plants. However, nearly 50 plants have received a 20-year extension to operate. Callaway Plant plans to file for a 20-year extension in 2011. If approved, the plant could operate until 2044.
Callaway Plant produces enough electricity to power 780,000 average households each year. Electricity from nuclear power accounts for 11% of all electricity sources in Missouri - compared to 75% in Vermont and about 50% in New Jersey, South Carolina, Illinois and Connecticut. Overall, nuclear energy provides about 20% of the electricity in the U.S.
Every nuclear plant in the U.S. currently stores its own used fuel. The Callaway Plant safely stores its used fuel on site in a spent fuel pool about the size of a tennis court. The U.S. Government is exploring a national repository for used fuel underneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Artichoke Annie Comment:
Every nuclear plant in the U.S. currently stores its own used fuel because the Federal Government has not yet come up with a permanent storage facility for spent/used fuel. The issues of nuclear waste management has been a topic of discussion going back to the 1940's and the development of nuclear weapons. The AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) emphasized in a 1949 report "better means of isolating, concentrating, immobilizing, and controlling wastes will ultimately be required." Let me check my watch, yep that was sixty-two years ago.
In the early 1980's various sites were being considered for a First Repository. The Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada was one of those sites. I won't get into all the reasons why this site has been nixed, the last action was by President Obama in February 2010 when he eliminated funding for Yucca Mountain from the budget. But before that in 1976 President Ford issued a directive deferring commercial reprocessing and recycling of plutonium in the United States. In 1977 President Carter extended the deferral indefinitely and directed relevant federal agencies to focus on alternative fuel cycles AND re-assess future spent fuel storage needs. President Reagan reversed the Carter Policy, but for a variety of reasons, commercial reprocessing was never resumed.
But look at those years mentioned; 1970's - 1980's. This is 2011 AND WE STILL DON'T HAVE A PLAN. The 2011 Blue Ribbon Commission on America's Nuclear Future (BRC) has taken up the discussion once again. And that's nice, but so far it's just a discussion.
In the meantime we continue to produce used fuel at the various nuclear plants across the United States. Here in Missiouri at Callaway Nuclear Plant #1 - Ameren stores its used fuel in a used fuel pool - yes, the size of a tennis court! For now that is also the permanent storage facility for this used fuel. Even though fuel pools are considered to be a "temporary cooling site" - not long-term or permanent storage.
It may take more than believing in Fairies to solve this problem.
There are no fairies, Annie. We're outa luck on this one. I liked the "let me check my watch" bit. Sixty-two years and no one has has come up with a solution. It's sad, but so many things are right now. It's the time of the great extinction on Earth. Incredible numbers of species are disappearing as we speak. And we're not working on that problem either. In fact, I think the only problem we're working on is the non-existent deficit problem.
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