Although they are nearly at the final depth, the work thus far has been primarily to construct the 4-km long access tunnel. The facility is not scheduled to accept the nuclear waste until 2020 but once it does, it will have enough space for about 7 reactor’s worth of spent fuel for 100-years of their operation. That would put final sealing of the facility in 2120. One interesting thing that caught my attention is that according to Posiva, the agency responsible for facility, after 500 years the radiation dose standing next to one of the canisters would be equivalent to a CAT Scan. [Source: hs.fi via Ontario-geofish]
Miscellaneous
France starts on nuclear waste storage project
Apparently the French are working on their nuclear waste storage facility, they already have a research laboratory constructed about 1/2-km underground. The actual repository will come on line around 2025 and be one of the […]
Rockman's Ramblings
Indefinite “Temporary” Nuclear Waste Storage and the Need for Nuclear Power
Since the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository has gotten the axe from President Obama, nuclear power plants around the country are faced with the prospect of virtually indefinite "temporary" storage of their nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel rods. The US Department of Energy has a legal obligation to find a permanent disposal facility for the spent fuel, and the agreements currently in place presumed that Yucca Mountain would be accepting nuclear waste by 2025 which clearly won’t happen. (Photo of dry cask temporary storage method for spent nuclear fuel from Connecticut Yankee). More after the break. […]
Rockman's Ramblings
More Nuclear Power – No Geologic Repository
President Obama’s decision to cut funding to Yucca Mountain has, for me, been the most disappointing decision he has made so far in his presidency. And yet he has also professed his desire to increase […]