Will U.S. become world's nuclear-waste dump?

[jpak]

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0228/p03s03-uspo.html

The federal government is weighing a Utah company's request to import large amounts of low-level radioactive waste from Italy – a step critics say could lead the United States to become a nuclear garbage dump for the world.

If approved, the company would ship up to 20,000 tons of metal piping, sludge, wood, contaminated clothing, and other mildly radioactive material from Italian nuclear-power plants to Tennessee, process most of it, then dispose of the remainder in Utah. It would be by far America's largest import of nuclear waste.

The proposal, which entered a 30-day public-comment period on Feb. 11, is gathering opposition from environmentalists, regulators, and congressmen. It would not only pave the way for more such imports, critics say, but also give nations less incentive to take care of their own nuclear waste.

"If this massive quantity from Italy is accepted, it just blows the doors wide open for nuclear waste to come in from all over the world," says Tom Clements, Southeast nuclear campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth, an environmental group in Washington. "The NRC has an obligation to deal with the waste generated in this country first and not accept foreign waste that fills up existing sites."

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[phantom power]

1. It would be more clever to take on the high-level waste.

All the good stuff is in there.

[jpak]

2. But when you reprocess it, all the "bad stuff" remains - lots of it.

n/t

[Dogmudgeon]

3. Low Level Nuclear Waste -- FYI

It involves both reactor-operation waste and medical waste. It does NOT apply to spent nuclear fuel.

Pro or contra, here are some more in-depth looks at what low-level nuclear waste is. I've done my best to NOT include sources that may have a political agenda.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/~rer/rerhtml/rer_10.html">What Is Low-Level Radioactive Waste? (Ohio State U.)
http://www.nrc.gov/waste/llw-disposal.html">US Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Low-Level Waste Disposal (also see menu)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_level_waste">Low-Level Waste - Wikipedia (rudimentary article)
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/brochures/br0216/">US Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Radioactive Waste- Production, Storage, Disposal (NUREG BR-0216)
http://www.gtcceis.anl.gov/">Greater-Than-Class C Low-Level Radioactive Waste EIS Information Center (Environmental Impact Statement from US Department of Energy)
http://www.dmoz.org/Science/Technology/Energy/Nuclear/Nuclear_Waste/">DMOZ Open Directory Project link page - many and varied
http://www.radwaste.org/index.html">RadWaste.Org - Home. (Mildly anti-nuclearist)
http://hps.org/">Health Physics Society - Home. (Mildly anti-nuclearist)
http://hps.org/govtrelations/llrw.html">Health Physics Society Low-Level Waste page

Because education comes first. :)

--p!

[TooBigaTent]

4. Finally came up with a use for Red states.