Australia's Returning Nuclear Waste

[QuarkingMad]

The waste from Lucas Heights research reactor is coming back to Australia after processing in France. ANSTO has applied to construct a specially built warehouse to store the waste removed of Uranium and Plutonium on site. Dose to a person standing outside warehouse 24/7, 365 days is the same as a trip to Europe via plane. The amount of waste is 13m³, or approx 1/3 of a shipping container for 50 years of waste.

It's coming back in a specially built cask that can withstand the most brutal of punishment.

Along with this ANSTO has release a very user friendly website to explain what the waste is, why we are importing/exporting it, and how safe it will be back at Lucas Heights.

www.managingnuclearwaste.gov.au/


Also if you have an Australian Online pass there is an article that is quite balanced on the matter:

www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/nuclear-waste-will-be-stored-in-sydney-at-lucas-heights/story-fn59niix-1226343173921

[PaulQ]

May 1, 2012 10:26:30 GMT 9.5 QuarkingMad said:

Also if you have an Australian Online pass there is an article that is quite balanced on the matter:

www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/nuclear-waste-will-be-stored-in-sydney-at-lucas-heights/story-fn59niix-1226343173921

If readers do not have a The Australian online pass, you can access the article through google.

E.g. www.google.com --> search "Nuclear waste will be stored in Sydney at Lucas Heights " --> click on the article.

[Luke Weston]

I note that even anti-nuclear environmentalist activists such as FOE have admitted that this situation is the best situation and there is obviously no other alternative preferable place to store it.

[jagdish]

Fission products of uranium or thorium are indeed a waste. so are handling materials rendered radioactive. All actinides can be burnt in fast reactors.
We must use recycling of actinides to reduce the waste to smallest quantity possible.

[anonposter]

Actually some of the fission products are useful (or have stable decay products which are useful) so even then I wouldn't necessarily call them all waste.