DOCSLIB.ORG

The Japanese Nuclear Power Option: What Price?

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Japanese Nuclear Power Option: What Price? Volume 6 | Issue 3 | Article ID 2697 | Mar 03, 2008 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus The Japanese Nuclear Power Option: What Price? Arjun Makhijani, Endo Tetsuya The Japanese Nuclear Power Option: What particular, energy-hungry China and India- but Price? also for the region as a whole. In Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere, plans for and Endo Tetsuya and Arjun Makhijani expressions of interest in nuclear energy have been expanding. In the midst of rising oil With the price of oil skyrocketing to more than prices, expectations are growing that nuclear $100 a barrel, many nations including Japan energy will fill the gap between energy demand and the United States, are looking to the and supply. nuclear power option among others. Is nuclear power a viable option in a world of expensive In the area of global warming, the Fourth and polluting fossil fuels? Japan Focus, in the Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental first of a series of articles on energy options Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts that centered on renewable options and thethe global temperature will increase by 2.4 to environmental costs of energy options, presents 6.4 degrees Celsius by the end of the 21st the case for nuclear power recently made by century if fossil-fuel dependent economic Endo Tetsuya and a critique of the nuclear growth is maintained. It is now universally option by Arjun Makhijani. recognized that the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is a matter of urgency, and necessitates seeking viable, reliable alternative sources of energy. In this sense, Atoms for the Sustainable Future:nuclear energy can be expected to contribute Utilization of Nuclear Energy as a Way to to global efforts to cope with the global Cope with Energy and Environmental warming problem as its carbon dioxide Challenges emissions are much smaller than those of fossil sources. Among major energy sources, nuclear Endo Tetsuya power is one of the most effective in reducing GHG emissions. Nuclear Renaissance Given these circumstances, there has been a resurgence in the worldwide need to promote The world now faces two major challenges for nuclear energy that may be termed the the sustainability of growth: energy security "Nuclear Renaissance." and global warming. Opportunities and Risks According to an estimate by the International Energy Agency, world demand for primary Nuclear energy has two facets. When it is used energy will increase 53% by 2030. Forfor peaceful purposes such as power example, it is predicted that meeting the generation, it can make a contribution to the demand for energy in Asia will pose serious betterment of the quality of life. However, it challenges not only for individual countries -in can also be used for military or criminal 1 6 | 3 | 0 APJ | JF purposes. There are both great opportunities and great risks in expanding the use of nuclear energy. Steam billows from the Mihama nuclear power plant in a 2004 accident Our principal challenge is to establish universal The world has had to live for more than sixty principles for the promotion of nuclear energy years with the serious threat of nuclear to contribute to sustainable growth in the devastation, a threat that is the result of the global economy, to solve global warming huge number of nuclear weapons that could problems, and to meet energy security needs, destroy the earth several times over. Even as in balance with furthering efforts to reduce the this danger continues, we also face rising risks posed by the threats of nuclear nuclear proliferation threats caused by the proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and existing diversion of peaceful nuclear programs to nuclear weapons. We also need to remember military use and withdrawals from international that the safety of nuclear activities has become non-proliferation treaties and agreements, as an increasingly important element in well as the threats of nuclear terrorism and maintaining the credibility and sustainability of thefts of or illicit trade in nuclear materials by nuclear energy activities. non-state actors. Based on such perceptions, a taskforce organized by the Japan Institute of International Affairs submitted on January 9 to Japanese Foreign Minister Komura Masahiko a policy report calling for a 'balanced approach' to nuclear energy, one that would promote nuclear energy while adequately and effectively addressing various nuclear risks. It is our hope that the Japanese government will take heed of our recommendations as it prepares energy and environmental policies for the G8 Summit that it will be hosting this summer in Toyako, Hokkaido. The policy report contains 13 recommendations, ranging from a proposal to reform financial mechanisms for nuclear 2 6 | 3 | 0 APJ | JF projects to disarmament measures. They all effective in terms of reducing CO2 emissions. consider threat reductions and non-Such discrimination against nuclear energy proliferation as indispensable. The rest of this might undermine international efforts to cope essay addresses the recommendationswith global warming. We urge the international concerning the peaceful use of nuclear energy, community to acknowledge that nuclear energy which, if handed wrongly, could undermine would be an effective way to help contain the efforts to make the world safer from nuclear increase of CO2 emissions. We back the threats. creation of a policy mechanism to systematically incorporate the promotion of "Three S's" for the Peaceful andnuclear energy in the efforts to tackle global Environmentally-Friendly Use of Nuclear warming in the new round of negotiations. Energy Nuclear power generation also needs large In promoting nuclear energy under the present initial capital investments and requires long circumstances, it is extremely important for payback periods. Developing countries need to states to take into account: a) security against attract international capital for their nuclear terrorist activities; b) safe operation of nuclear programs. Therefore, the international energy facilities; c) safeguards against nuclear community should offer innovative financial proliferation. We must take a balancedmechanisms that would facilitate private and approach toward strengthening the "Three S's" public investment for the construction of (Safety, Security, and Safeguards) andnuclear reactors. Other existing financial promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy mechanisms such as World Bank loans and in an appropriate, effective manner. The "Three OECD guidelines for export credit, which S's" would provide a useful conceptualcurrently discriminate against nuclear projects, framework to comprehensively deal with should be made available for nuclear power nuclear risks while pursuing safe and secure projects. It may also be worth examining the nuclear activities. linking of financial support through the mechanisms mentioned above with the In addition, nuclear disarmament should be fulfillment of the "Three S's" guidelines since further promoted. Promoting nuclearthis would contribute to enhancing the safety disarmament would strengthen the norms of and security of nuclear activities as well as non- the international non-proliferation regime, and proliferation. thus it would encourage states to engage in global non-proliferation efforts. We believe Conclusion that, in combination with strengthened transparency, respecting this "Three S's" As mentioned at the outset of this essay, we are concept and sincerely encouraging nuclear facing serious, imminent challenges in energy disarmament are essential in helping nuclear security and global warming. Nuclear energy energy gain universal legitimacy andhas great potential in coping with such confidence. challenges if it is properly introduced and operated. In particular, heightened risks of In the meantime, it is also important to develop nuclear plant accidents, nuclear terrorism, and mechanisms for assisting the development of nuclear proliferation should not be tolerated in nuclear power projects. Currently, there is no exchange for dealing with global warming and incentive or mechanism to facilitate theenergy security concerns. utilization of nuclear energy for environmental purposes, even though nuclear energy is quite Although it is extremely difficult to discover a 3 6 | 3 | 0 APJ | JF panacea that addresses all of these concerns, electricity in good locations of 8 to 12 cents per we believe that it is not impossible, and we kilowatt-hour. Even solar thermal power is 14 have to strive for such a solution for the sake of cents per kilowatt hours today, including some all future generations. That is the very purpose storage of heat for generation after sundown; it of the upcoming G8 Summit. promises to go down to about 10 cents as the industry matures in the next decade and Published as AJISS-Commentary No. 26becomes of a similar size to wind energy. [Association of Japanese Institutes of Strategic Studies] February, 2008. Mr. Endo is quite wrong about the proliferation risk of nuclear power. We need look no farther Endo Tetsuya served as Chairman of the than the debate in Japan itself as to whether it Taskforce on Atoms for the Sustainable Future should become a nuclear weapon state. In organized by The Japan Institute of2002, Ozawa Ichiro, the head of the Liberal International Affairs. This commentary is an Party suggested that if China became too abbreviated version of the recommendations powerful, Japan should consider making issued by the taskforce in January 2008. thousands of nuclear weapons using its civilian materials. The Unacceptable Cost of the Nuclear The proliferation potential of nuclear power Power Option for Japan was recognized as long ago as 1946 by none other than J. Robert Oppenheimer, the Arjun Makhijani Scientific Director of the Manhattan Project. He suggested hiding nuclear weapons intent Mr. Endo, like many in the nuclear industry, is under cover of nuclear power plants in the championing nuclear power as a solution to the event that the U.S. signed a nuclear weapons severe problem of climate change and the convention: concomitant task we face of reducing carbon dioxide emissions from the energy sector. Before jumping to nuclear, a cost comparison is “We know very well what we would needed.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • It's Time to Expand Nuclear Power
    Intelligence Squared U.S. 1 01/23/2020 January 23, 2020 Ray Padgett | [email protected] Mark Satlof | [email protected] T: 718.522.7171 It’s Time to Expand Nuclear Power Guests: For the Motion: Kirsty Gogan, Daniel Poneman Against the Motion: Arjun Makhijani, Gregory Jaczko Moderator: John Donvan AUDIENCE RESULTS Before the debate: After the debate: 49% FOR 47% FOR 21% AGAINST 42% AGAINST 30% UNDECIDED 11% UNDECIDED Start Time: (00:00:00) John Donvan: We have a key note conversation because the topic relates to science. Would you please welcome to the stage Bill Nye, the science guy? [applause] Bill Nye: John, so good to see you! John Donvan: Great to see you. [applause] So, that was the appropriate level of applause, I think. Bill Nye: Wow! Intelligence Squared U.S. 2 01/23/2020 John Donvan: There was a really interesting story that relates to you and Intelligence Squared that I want to start with. Bill Nye: Ah, yes. Yes. John Donvan: And you were -- you have been, in the past, a member of our audience. You've been out there. And there was one particular debate that you attended, and an interesting thing happened. Pick it up from there. Bill Nye: So, I was at a debate about genetically-modified organisms, GMOs. And -- John Donvan: The resolution was: Genetically modified food -- Bill Nye: Is good or bad. Or was necessary. John Donvan: No. It was -- it was stated as an imperative: "Genetically-modified food." It was a sentence. Bill Nye: Ah, yes. John Donvan: Okay.
    [Show full text]
  • NEW TITLES in BIOETHICS Annual Cumulation Volume 20, 1994
    NATIONAL REFERENCE CENTER FOR BIOETHICS LITERATURE THE JOSEPH AND ROSE KENNEDY INSTITUTE OF ETHICS GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, DC 20057 NEW TITLES IN BIOETHICS Annual Cumulation Volume 20, 1994 (Includes Syllabus Exchange Catalog) Lucinda Fitch Huttlinger, Editor Gregory P. Cammett, Managing Editor ISSN 0361-6347 A NOTE TO OUR READERS . Funding for the purchase of the materials cited in NEW TITLES IN BIOETHICS was severely reduced in September 1994. We are grateful for your donations, as well as your recom­ mendations to your publishers to forward review copies to the Editor. In addition to being listed here, all English-language titles accepted for the collection will be considered for inclusion in the BIOETHICSLINE database, produced at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics under contract with the National Library of Medicine. Your efforts to support this publication and the dissemination of bioethics information in general are sincerely appreciated. NEW TITLES IN BIOETHICS is published four times Inquiries regarding NEW TITLES IN BIOETHICS per year (quarterly) by the National Reference Center should be addressed to: for Bioethics Literature, Kennedy Institute of Ethics. Gregory Cammett, Managing Editor Annual Cumulations are published in the following year (regarding subscriptions and claims) as separate publications. NEW TITLES IN BIOETHICS is a listing by subject of recent additions OR to the National Reference Center's collection. (The subject classification scheme is reproduced in full with Lucinda Fitch Huttlinger, Editor each issue; it can also be found at the end of the (regarding review copies, gifts, and exchanges) cumulated edition.) With the exception of syllabi listed NEW TITLES IN BIOETHICS as part of our Syllabus Exchange program, and docu­ National Reference Center for Bioethics ments in the section New Publications from the Ken­ Literature nedy Institute of Ethics, materials listed herein are not Kennedy Institute of Ethics available from the National Reference Center.
    [Show full text]
  • Could Asian Nuclear War Radioactivity Reach North America
    Institute for Energy and Environmental Research For a safer, healthier environment and the democratization of science Could Asianhttp://ieer.org Nuclear War Radioactivity Reach North America? (Earthfiles Interview with Arjun Makhijani) © 2002 by Linda Moulton Howe Reporter and Editor, Earthfiles.com Red arrow points at India and Pakistan on opposite side of the world from Canada and the United States. The Marshall Islands where the U. S. experimented in the 1950swith many atomic tests is at the far left in the Pacific Ocean. From Marshall Island and Nevada Test Site nuclear explosions, radioactive fallout riding on the prevailing westerly winds reached North Carolina and New York, distances nearly equivalent to the 10,000 to 12,000 miles India and Pakistan are from the west coast of the United States. June 4, 2002 Takoma Park, Maryland – If India and Pakistan strike each other with Hiroshima-sized bombs, how much radioactivity could reach the atmosphere and fall out around the world? That is a question I began asking a week ago and discovered that very little is known about the consequences downwind of such a catastrophe. The National Atmospheric Release Advisory Center (NARAC) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California seemed like it should know. NARAC’s public affairs office describes its “primary function is to support the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Defense (DOD) for radiological releases.” But when I asked an page 1 / 7 Institute for Energy and Environmental Research For a safer, healthier environment and the democratization of science informationhttp://ieer.org officer there for information about the spread of radioactivity in the atmosphere from a nuclear war in Asia, the answer was, “That information is classified in the interests of national security.” One scientist who wants to talk about potential radioactive fallout and its threat to earth life is Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D., President of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) in Tacoma Park, Maryland.
    [Show full text]
  • Nevada Test Site: Desert Annex of TESTS SINCE the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories 1945 Q Denotes “Subcritical” Introduction Test
    Western States Legal Foundation Nevada Desert Experience Information Bulletin Summer 2005 update 1,000+ U.S. NUCLEAR The Nevada Test Site: Desert Annex of TESTS SINCE the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories 1945 q denotes “subcritical” Introduction test Aardvark 1962 Abeytas 1970 The Nevada Test Site (NTS), an immense tract of desert and mountains northwest of Las Abilene 1988 Able 1946 Able 1951 Vegas, is the test range where the United States government set off over 900 nuclear Able 1951 Able 1952 explosions during the Cold War phase of the arms race. For most Americans, the Test Site is Abo 1985 Absinthe 1967 only a symbol of a closed chapter of history, a time of great danger that now is over. Even Ace 1964 Acushi 1963 those who know that the Nevada Test Site still is used for “subcritical” testing of nuclear Adobe 1962 Adze 1968 weapons materials and components underground may think operations largely have been Agile 1967 Agouti 1962 Agrini 1984 suspended, with unused facilities retained only against the eventuality of a return to full scale Ahtanum 1963 Ajax 1966 underground nuclear testing. But the Test Site remains an important part of the nuclear Ajo 1970 Akavi 1981 weapons complex, both a remote site where dangerous activities can be conducted with little Akbar 1972 Alamo 1988 public knowledge and a weapons laboratory unto itself. High risk programs involving nuclear Aleman 1986 Algodones 1971 material, such as nuclear criticality experiments, are slated for transfer to the Test Site, and it Aligote 1981 Aliment 1969 Allegheny 1962 also is being considered as a location for a proposed factory to mass produce plutonium pits, Alma 1962 Almendro 1973 the atomic explosive “triggers”at the core of most nuclear weapons.
    [Show full text]
  • Nuclear-Spent Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Preface and Acknowledgments 5
    Nuclear-Spent Science Matters, LLC Science Matters, Bethesda, Maryland Fuel and High-Level Radioactive December 2019 Waste Disposal A Review of Options Considered in the United States An independent report Deepcommissioned Inc. Isolation, by Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D. Table of Contents Preface and Acknowledgments 4 Executive Summary 8 i. Early considerations 9 ii. The 1980 Environmental Impact Statement and geologic disposal 11 iii. Retrospective on the geologic disposal decision 13 iv. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act 14 v. The Continued Storage Rule 15 vi. Conclusions 16 I. From the 1950s to the mid-1970s 18 i. The 1957 National Research Council Report 20 ii. Lyons, Kansas 26 II. The changing framework in the 1970s 33 i. The energy front 34 ii. A change in nuclear power prospects 35 iii. The Indian nuclear test 38 III. Options for spent-fuel and high-level waste disposal 41 i. Transmutation 45 ii. Disposal in space 48 iii. Ice-sheet disposal 54 iv. Sub-seabed disposal 58 v. Island disposal 61 vi. Well injection 61 vii. Rock melt 64 viii. Disposal in very deep holes 66 ix. Disposal in a mined geologic repository 69 IV. Retrospective on disposal options 78 i. Breeder reactors and reprocessing 80 ii. Reprocessing-dependent disposal approaches 83 iii. Non-reprocessing dependent disposal concepts 88 iv. Deep-vertical borehole disposal 93 v. Horizontal borehole disposal 95 V. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act 98 VI. The NRC’s Continued Storage Rule and geologic isolation 106 i. The Continued Storage Rule 107 ii. Comments on continued storage and geologic isolation 108 VII.
    [Show full text]
  • Thank You for Listening
    Thank you to our hosts for this opportunity to speak; and Thank You World Family, so many of you gathering here; thank you for listening. Nuclear, is war of human consequences. The Cold War promised “mutual destruction.” Cities were made into targets. Vaporizing large numbers of people was the strategy. Now we know, even regional us of nuclear weapons would cause global damage. It is my job to give a summary of the medical consequences of using these weapons. My slides will be published on line with citation and references. *** Resources: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War: http://www.ippnw.org/pdf/1998ForrowJAMA.pdf “From Hiroshima to Mutual Assured Destruction to Abolition 2000.” Lachlan Forrow, MD; Victor W. Sidel, MD; reprinted from the Journal of the American Medical Association, August 5, 1998; Vol 280, No 5, pages 456—461. European Leadership Network: 2014. Ambassador A. Kmentt. http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/avoiding‐the‐worst‐re‐framing‐the‐debate‐ on‐nuclear‐disarmament_1558.html 1 A nuclear explosion is composed of three types of energy: Blast, Heat, and Radiation. All of these have both immediate and long‐term medical consequnces. *** Broad Resources: The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists; http://thebulletin.org/search/topics/nuclear‐weapons Union of Concerned Scientists: http://www.ucsusa.org/our‐work/nuclear‐weapons#.VHpzhDHF8xI International Atomic Energy Agency – Tools for Nuclear Inspection (factsheet): http://www.iaea.org/sites/default/files/inspectors.pdf Reaching Critical Will: http://www.reachingcriticalwill.org The disarmament arm of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. 2 I am using four ICONS to track how each type of energy from these weapons impact human health: • Yellow is Blast.
    [Show full text]
  • Proquest Dissertations
    'RANDOM MURDER BY TECHNOLOGY': THE ROLE OF SCIENTIFIC AND BIOMEDICAL EXPERTS IN THE ANTI-NUCLEAR MOVEMENT, 1969 - 1992 LISA A. RUMIEL A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY GRADUATE PROGRAM IN HISTORY YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ONTARIO AUGUST 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54104-3 Our file Notre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-54104-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation.
    [Show full text]
  • Curriculum Vita of Arjun Makhijani
    \ Curriculum Vita of Arjun Makhijani Address and Phone: Institute for Energy and Environmental Research 6935 Laurel Ave., Suite 201 Takoma Park, MD 20912 Phone: 301-270-5500 e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.ieer.org A recognized authority on energy issues, Dr. Makhijani is the author and co-author of numerous reports and books on energy and environment related issues, including two published by MIT Press. He was the principal author of the first study of the energy efficiency potential of the US economy published in 1971. He is the author of Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy (2007). In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the American Physical Society. He was named a Ploughshares Hero, by the Ploughshares Fund (2006); was awarded the Jane Bagley Lehman Award of the Tides Foundation in 2008 and the Josephine Butler Nuclear Free Future Award in 2001; and in 1989 he received The John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism of the Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, with Robert Alvarez. He has many published articles in journals and magazines as varied as The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Environment, The Physics of Fluids, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Progressive, as well as in newspapers, including the Washington Post. Dr. Makhijani has testified before Congress, and has appeared on ABC World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News, CBS 60 Minutes, NPR, CNN, and BBC, among others. He has served as a consultant on energy issues to utilities, including the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Edison Electric Institute, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and several agencies of the United Nations.
    [Show full text]
  • Reading up on Nuclear Energy - WSJ.Com Page 1 of 4
    Reading Up on Nuclear Energy - WSJ.com Page 1 of 4 Dow Jones Reprints: This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies for distribution to your colleagues, clients or customers, use the Order Reprints tool at the bottom of any article or visit www.djreprints.com See a sample reprint in PDF format. Order a reprint of this article now NOVEMBER 16, 2008, 9:19 P.M. ET UPFRONT Reading Up on Nuclear Energy The debate over nuclear energy has gained new life thanks to concerns about climate change and the need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. We asked several experts on the topic to suggest resources for understanding -- and joining -- the debate. -- Michael Totty PETER A. BRADFORD, adjunct professor, Vermont Law School, and former member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission: For an even-handed recent overview of most nuclear power issues, see "Nuclear Power Joint Fact-Finding," a June 2007 report by the Keystone Center, a non-profit organization that brought together a cross section of parties interested in nuclear energy – including environmentalists and consumer advocates, industry representatives and government officials – to create a base of agreed-upon knowledge about the costs, risks and benefits of nuclear power. www.keystone.org/spp/documents/FinalReport_NJFF6_12_2007(1).pdf For a responsibly skeptical look at nuclear power's rapidly rising costs in comparison to available low carbon alternatives, see "The Nuclear Illusion" by Amory Lovins and Imram Sheikh in the November 2008 Ambio, the Journal of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. https://www.rmi.org/images/PDFs/Energy/E08-01_AmbioNuclIlusion.pdf The Web site of the Nonproliferation Education Center, maintained by WSJ op-ed contributor Henry Sokolski, features an ongoing collection of thoughtful conservative pieces skeptical of nuclear power.
    [Show full text]
  • Energy & Environment
    THE US EFFORT TO DISPOSE OF HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE by Gordon R. Thompson Reprinted from ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT VOLUME 19 No. 3+4 2008 MULTI-SCIENCE PUBLISHING CO. LTD. 5 Wates Way, Brentwood, Essex CM15 9TB, United Kingdom 391 THE US EFFORT TO DISPOSE OF HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTE Gordon R. Thompson George Perkins Marsh Institute Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT This paper reviews the history of the US effort to dispose of high-level radioactive waste created by operating nuclear fission reactors for military and commercial purposes. The history is considered here in three parts: the period beginning in 1957 and ending with passage of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act in 1982; implementation of that Act over the period 1982 to 2005; and recent plans to promote a nuclear power “renaissance”, including the initiation of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership in 2006. To date, disposal has not been accomplished, and many observers doubt that disposal will occur during the next several decades. The history of the disposal effort features a series of decision-action cycles in which objectives were formulated, decisions were taken, actions were implemented, and outcomes occurred. The decision-action process is examined here with attention to the roles and objectives of major stakeholders, the relation of those objectives to governmental decisions, and the extent to which the actual outcomes have corresponded with the objectives. 1. INTRODUCTION Nuclear fission reactors in the USA have produced large amounts of “high-level” radioactive waste. For half a century, the US federal government has conducted programs to dispose of this material.
    [Show full text]
  • Policymaking, Environmental Science, and the Nuclear Complex, 1945-1960
    Splitting Atoms, Fracturing Landscapes: Policymaking, Environmental Science, and the Nuclear Complex, 1945-1960 BY ©2013 Neil Shafer Oatsvall Submitted to the graduate degree program in History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _________________________ Chairperson Sheyda Jahanbani _________________________ Gregory Cushman _________________________ Johannes Feddema _________________________ Sara Gregg _________________________ Theodore Wilson Date Defended: 7 December 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Neil Shafer Oatsvall certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Splitting Atoms, Fracturing Landscapes: Policymaking, Environmental Science, and the Nuclear Complex, 1945-1960 ________________________________ Chairperson Sheyda Jahanbani Date approved: 2 April 2013 ii ABSTRACT Neil S. Oatsvall, Ph.D. Department of History, May 2013 University of Kansas “Splitting Atoms, Fracturing Landscapes: Policymaking, Environmental Science, and the Nuclear Complex, 1945-1960” examines the implications of an expansive nuclear culture in the postwar United States. This dissertation probes the intersection of Cold War policymaking, environmental science, and the nuclear complex—a shorthand way of discussing the sum set of all nuclear technologies in conjunction with the societal structures and ideologies necessary to implement such technology. Studying a unified nuclear complex corrects for the limitations associated with studying all nuclear technologies as separate entities, something that has created fractured understandings of how splitting the atom affected both natural and human systems. This dissertation shows how U.S. policymakers in the early Cold War interacted with the environment and sought to fulfill their charge to protect the United States and its people while still attempting to ensure future national prosperity.
    [Show full text]
  • Deadly Crop in the Tank Farm
    DEADLY CROP IN THE TANK FARM An Assessment of the Management of High-Level Radioactive Wastes in the Savannah River Plant Tank Farm, Based on Official Documents Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D.* Robert AIvarez** Brent Blackwelder, Ph.D.*** * Associate Professor, Capitol Institute of Technology ** Director, Nuclear Weapons and Power Project, Environmental Policy Institute *** Vice-President, Environmental Policy Institute Corrections were made to several pages, in January 2012. Changes to pages 27 and 29 are described at http://www.ieer.org/errata.html. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface, ............................................... i 1 . Summary and Recommendations ....................... 1 Part I 2. Site Characteristics ................................. 8 3 . Introduction to Tank Farm Operation ................... 16 4 . Technical Problems ................................33 5 . Catastrophic Events ................................55 6. Environmental Contamination......................... 71 7 . Worker Exposures.................................. 100 Part I1 Tables Compiled From The Savannah River Plant 200 Area Fault Tree Data Bank PREFACE Although much attention over Union where U.S. intelligcncc sources the past decade has been focused on and exiled Sovict scientists suggest an accidental large-scale releases of explosion in 1957 scverely contaminated radioactivity from commercial nuclear several hundred square miles and reactors, a similar potential exists at resulted in a major loss of life. A federal nuclear facilities. In recent potential for similar
    [Show full text]