Energy From Thorium Discussion Forum

Drilling deep under the US to dispose of nuclear waste







This technology would put waste out of reach to thorium reactor startup. In the wake of peak uranium, the only alternative would be the fusion-fission hybrid.

This could be a useful way to store away fission products, if reprocessing is practiced to use U238 as fuel. Other high radioactive waste not required for fuel, such as cladding, can also be buried this way.

One of the major problems with underground repositories is that there are a lot of uncertainties about the underground and there is less opportunity for easy access, standardization and modular design. With dry casks, there is major opportunity in this respect. So we know dry casks are cheap and good already and have less cost overruns risks.

The cool thing about a major LFTR program is that we then also have a very good reason (read: public justification) to delay geological burial of spent nuclear fuel: we will need it later for start-up charges. Certain large waste streams such as radiographite and depleted uranium can be used cost-effectively as cask shielding, avoiding geologic repository needs for such streams for the forseeable future. I think this is the way to go for now. Boreholes could be added as a serious RD&D programme, along with inert forms of final radwaste such as glass or borides.

Actinides are potential fast reactor fuel. Strontium and Cesium are spontaneous fission fuel for long life batteries. The need is to bite the bullet and separate them for various uses. Cladding materials and fission products for which use is not known could be put in deep underground out of harm's way. Fast/thorium fuels will be there for centuries and there will be more fission products to come.

A very simple interim solution is Private Fuel Storage in Utah. See http://privatefuelstorage.com/http://privatefuelstorage.com/ . It is a licensed dry storage facility for 40,000 tons of fuel for 40 years. It would provide an alternative for onsite storage which is needed if the reactor is decommisioned or the neighbors are hostle to dry storage.

The bad news is that it took eight and a half years to license. Then the department of the interior denied the lease, which is on Indian land. Congress declared a national wilderness or forest or something on the only logical place to build a railroad just to block access. Then the department of the interior denied permission for a transfer station to unload the casks from a railroad to a heavy truck. All it would take is a simple act of congress to use this facility.

Recycling has been suggested before the Blue Ribbon Commission as one of the strategies to manage the high level waste:-
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/WR-Re ... 09105.html
The fissile matter recovered should be properly accounted for and used for burning recovered uranium or thorium for energy. This will turn the 60,000 tons of SNF in the US to a source of more energy.France, Japan, Russia and India are already doing it. It is time for the biggest 'Stock Holder' to do the same.