Canada okays plan for nuclear waste depot - AFP

[Eugene]

Source: Agence France-Presse

Canada okays plan for nuclear waste depot

1 hour, 43 minutes ago

OTTAWA (AFP) - The Canadian government has approved a plan
for a below-ground nuclear waste depot that is backed by the
nuclear power industry but branded by environmentalists as
dangerous.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn said Thursday that the
government had accepted a plan to bury radioactive waste from
nuclear plants in deep subterranean storage depots after first
temporarily storing it in shallower underground facilities.

"This is a safe, long-term approach," Lunn said in a statement.

The storage method "will ensure the used nuclear fuel is
monitored and retrievable," he said.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070615/sc_afp/canadanuclearwaste_070615073916

[GliderGuider]

1. As much as I despise Gary Lunn, this is excellent news

The sooner they can get that crap out of local short-term storage and put it some place stable and secure the better.

There are two things I don't get about the objections to long term waste storage. The first is that the long-term plans I've seen are all much safer for the population than the existing stop-gap of leaving this stuff sitting above ground in holding tanks. The second is that the issue of storage of existing waste is entirely separable from whether existing reactors keep operating or new ones are built.

Well, actually I do "get" why they're objecting. By not severing the two issues, nuclear opponents are trying to make life as difficult a possible for the nuclear industry. It's too bad that by doing so the anti-nukes are actually increasing the public risk they say they are trying to reduce. Ironic, isn't it?

[bananas]

2. The third is that we don't need it in the first place. nt

[GliderGuider]

3. I make no claims about the need for nuclear power itself in this post

I'm talking specifically about waste storage. I'm pretty sure we need that.