Tanada does make a good point, but I do understand from the article that they are focussed mainly on HLW. They don't say it directly, but when the writer describes a cup of waste from this site being enough to kill everyone in the room within minutes then you just gotta assume that's what we're dealing with here.
MyOtherID, we're not trying to ignore your thread. It took me a while to respond as we've debated the nuke issue and waste so much I'm a bit burnt out on the topic lately. Your concern and the concern in the article is very well placed. Nuke waste is an issue the nuke proponents continually try to downplay - it's embarassing for them. Asside from accidents it's the biggest health issue with regard to nuke. Hanford waste is from weapons and mililtary, however, if this waste is leaking I see no reason to believe that what we are being told about reactor waste storage is absolute truth either. In fact there are concerns over dry casks for HLW reactor waste:
LINK
Shirani alleges that all existing Holtec casks, some of which are already loaded with highly radioactive waste, as well as the casks under construction now, still flagrantly violate engineering codes (such as those of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers [ASME] and American National Standards Institute [ANSI]), as well as NRC regulations. He concludes that the Holtec casks are “nothing but garbage cans” if they are not made in accordance with government specifications.[3]
Specific examples of the QA violations and related problems alleged by Shirani include:
* Welding problems, such improper “fast cooling” of hot cask welds and metal using fans and air conditioning equipment, which are in violation of ASME and ANSI codes and risk tearing and cracking of the unevenly cooling welds and metal, in order to meet production goals. Welds on the casks were also performed by unqualified welders. Even NRC has acknowledged that “weld quality records are not in agreement with the code requirements.”[4]
* Inadequate controls on the quality of materials used in the manufacturing process, risking brittleness and weakness in the casks.
* Holtec’s failure to report holes in neutron shielding material (neutrons are especially hazardous emissions from highly radioactive waste).
* US Tool & Die’s failure to use coupon (a small physical sample of metal) testing, and Post Weld Heat Treatment on a regular basis, as required by ASME code and in violation of the codes that were part of the license agreement with NRC.
* Holtec and U.S. Tool & Die quality control inspectors’ bypass of hundreds of non-conforming conditions, departures from the original design during cask manufacture. The departures from the original design amount to design changes that require revised analysis to guarantee that manufactured casks actually live up to the structural integrity of the original design. The fact that this revised analysis was never done is in violation of ASME and ANSI codes, and thus NRC regulations, and means the actual manufactured casks' structural integrity is questionable, according to Shirani.
* Holtec’s consent to allow U.S. Tool & Die to make design decisions and changes, despite the fact that U.S. Tool & Die does not have design control capability under its QA program.
* Failure to conduct a “root cause investigation” of Holtec’s QA program, even though root causes are the main reason for repeated deficiencies.
* Exelon’s obstruction of Shirani from performing any follow-up of the audit to confirm that problems had been solved, despite knowing that the fabrication issues identified would have a detrimental impact on the design.
* Exelon’s falsified quality-assurance documents and the misleading of the NRC investigation, stating that Shirani’s allegations of QA violations were resolved when in fact they were not.
* Lack of understanding in the NRC of the design control process and Holtec's QA program, relating to flaws in welding, design, manufacturing, and materials procurement control. NRC lacks a corrective action mechanism for repeated findings. Shirani alleges his audit findings embarrassed NRC because it had also audited the Holtec casks just a few months previously but found no problems whatsoever.
Shirani concludes that these numerous design and manufacturing flaws call into question the structural integrity of the Holtec casks, especially under heat-related stress such as during severe transportation accidents. He also warns that his eight-day audit showed him only a snap shot of problems, and that there could in fact be additional ones yet to be identified.
We have discussed waste issue on: http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic17370-0-asc-15.html and
http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic18190-0-asc-30.html
I'm sure there are many other treads as well. I appreciate the 60 minute piece because the issue of nuke waste in general hasn't been getting much press lately and in the rush to find new energy the Bush government is pushing ahead plans for new nuke. Some folks are even touting it as "renewable" and "clean" energy which of course is an absolute lie.