U.S. Seeks to Expand Nevada Nuclear Waste Site

[jpak]

http://www.globalsecuritynewswire.org/gsn/nw_20081210_2301.php

The U.S. Energy Department yesterday asked lawmakers for permission to expand greatly the storage capacity of a planned nuclear waste dump in Nevada, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Nov. 7).

U.S. law currently places a 70,000-metric-ton cap on the amount of highly radioactive waste that can be entombed at Yucca Mountain, but an Energy Department report submitted to Congress yesterday argues that the site could handle much more.

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The site is intended to safely store spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants that now keep that material on site, creating potential security and environmental risks. The plants have already accumulated nearly 64,000 metric tons of waste, meaning the Yucca site would be immediately filled if it were to receive the material, the Associated Press reported. An additional 2,200 tons of spent fuel is created annually.

The Energy Department has estimated that U.S. power plants would create up to 143,000 metric tons of waste if all them operated to their planned lifetimes, AP reported, and the site has also been tapped to receive waste from U.S. nuclear-weapon facilities.

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