CLINTON ST. QUARTERLY By Rory Tyler Nuclear power has become one of the most volatile issues on the American political scene, and although it was once hailed as the answer to our future energy needs, no new commercial nuclear power plants have been built in the United States since 1976. Questions of safety, skyrocketing costs and the disposal of hazardous wastes seem to have taken the blush off the nuclear rose. It is in the area of waste disposal especially that critics are concerned about the direction — or lack of it — of the industry. Both government and industry actions have been characterized by benign neglect and administrative confusion. At the same time, recent studies show that the problem of waste disposal is technically far mere difficult than previously supposed. In a dozen states, including Oregon, storage of high-level radioactive waste (HLW), or spent reactor fue, is illegal, and there are no facilities anywhere in the United States for pernanent disposal of such wastes. As t result, spent fuel is piling up at reacor sites around the country, such as tie Trojan plant on the Columbia Rivei where 33 tons of this highly radioictive material is being “ tem- porarly” stored in a large “ swimming pool” next to the reactor site. Intended only for storage until the hot fue. cools somewhat, such pools are rapidly filling up, and some reactors mayhave to begin shutting down as early as 1983 unless a permanent solution is reached. Critics aid proponents of nuclear power alike want to see the waste problem solved. In Oregon there will be a measure on the ballot this November — Ballot Measure 7 — which will allow voters to voice their opinions on this crucial subject. This ballot measure would, first, require that a permanent solution to the waste disposal dilemma be found before any new atomic reactors could be built in the state. Second, the approval of additional reactor sites would rest with the voters rather than with the governor’s five-member Oregon Energy Facility Siting Council, which now has sole authority for such decisions. (Ballot Measure 7 is not the first attempt to enact this kind of legislation. State Senaor Jan Wyers, the prime sponsor of the measure, says, “ We tried to passa similar bill through the Oregon legishture. It got through the House, but net the Senate. It’s such a controversial i.sue that a lot of legislators don’t wtnt to take a position on it. Conventional wisdom says you need the support of the banks and utilities to get elected and that has a very intimidating effect. There’s a lot of overlap between the banks and the utilities, with the banks involved in purchasing bonds for new construction.” Wyers points to other factors that stymied legislation — such as the fact that the top administrator of Equitable Savings and Loan is also on the board of PGE — but says, “ We took a poll at the time and found that 80 percent of the people supported waste disposal legislation, so we decided to go the route of the initiative petition.” ) The Search for Solutions After 30 years and thousands of studies, no nuclear waste has been permanently disposed of in a licensed facility. Currently, about 74 million gallons of high-level waste are being stored in steel tanks and bins at the Department of Energy’s three major la b o r a to r ie s a t H a n f o rd , Washington; Savannah River, South Carolina; and Idaho Falls, Idaho. By 1984, 810 metric tons of spent reactor fuels will be scattered around the country at reactor cooling pools. By 1996 that figure will go up to a minimum of 25,500 metric tons. Twenty- six million tons of uranium mill tailings, which give off radium and radon gas, lie at various sites around the western U.S., including one such dump near Lakeview in Southeastern Oregon. Almost 2,000 cubic meters of low-level waste (LLW), like rinsing and decontamination solutions and contaminated clothing and equipment, are buried at temporary sites around the country. By the year 2000 it is estimated that there will be enough radioactive waste in the United States to build a four-lane highway, coast to coast. One answer to the disposal problem — and the one that the industry had been counting on almost from the inception of “ Atoms for Peace” in 1956 — is reprocessing. In the industry scenario, spent fuel would be taken to a special facility where it would be chopped up and the component elements separated from each other in an acid bath. The uranium and plutonium derived from such a process would be re-used as reactor fuel. Plutonium is only used in “ breeder reactors,” so called because they produce more plutonium than they use. No such commercial facility exists in the United States today. At West Valley, N.Y., the only commercial reprocessing plant to operate in the United States now sits idle. For six years — from 1966 to 1972 — it reprocessed spent fuel, mostly military. In 1972 it was closed down to rectify problems of high radiation exposures to workers and other technical troubles which made it uneconomical to run. The plant never re-opened. During its six years, the West Valley facility processed 625 metric tons of spent fuel and accumulated huge amounts of waste, including one tank with 600,000 gallons of liquid, high-level waste. Nearly all of the radioactivity has settled to the bottom of the tank in the form of a thick, radioactive sludge. Although the tank was meant as a temporary storage measure, no technology exists to remove the sludge. At Morris, Illinois, General Electric built an innovative reprocessing plant in an attempt to cut the high costs of separating usable fuels from waste. However, essential steps in the process could not be sustained for more than a few hours, and G.E. shut the plant down. Today, despite opposition from citizens and state government, Morris is being considered as a site for spent fuel from reactors with a storage problem. In 1977 the President put a halt to all reprocessing plans, since making plutonium an item of commerce was seen as a grave threat to national security. Plutonium is now worth more per pound than heroin and there are plenty of people who would like to get their hands on the bombgrade metal. Nuclear proponents like to point out that reprocessing is being done in France and Russia. There, waste products are separated from the spent fuel by acids by a process known as vitrification. Waste products from the spent fuel are then converted into a fine powder which is mixed with glass and disposed of in underground chambers. The French plan is to keep these glass blocks in shallow underf lu tes ♦ w .e a r s ♦ m an d o l in s ♦ b a n jo s ♦ f idd le s ♦ w h is tles p iccolos ♦ un u su a l folk in s t rum e n ts ot manv v a r ie tie s books and recoMs o f traditional Celtic and other folk musics. ARTICHOKE MUSIC 11-6 • monday-saturday • 722 northwest 21st • 248-0356 1__________________ ___________________F 14 Illustrations tn Frank Poliat
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz