Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 8.4
Location of large lakes in the western United States 15,000 years ago. The Great Salt Lake
in Utah is the only large remnant still present.
In the meantime, high-level waste continues to accumulate at the
nation's reactors. Companies claim that their storage areas are full or
nearly full and demand immediate action from the federal government.
The rising threat of terrorism has increased the urgency of their demands.
Transporting the high-level waste to Yucca Mountain from around the
country would require daily shipments for twenty years. According to
the NAS, the material could be moved in 55,000 truckloads or 9,600
dedicated trainloads and 1,000 truckloads.
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They were concerned,
however, about the safety of the casks containing the spent fuel in the
event of a fi erce, sustained fi re. Such fi res do happen. In at least two
cases, trains carrying petroleum-fi lled tankers burned for days before
fi refi ghters got them under control. The only way to minimize that risk,
the panel concluded, is to make sure such petroleum trains go nowhere
near trains carrying nuclear waste. The panel did not assess the dangers
posed by terrorist attacks.
As of 2010, the 77,000-ton planned capacity of the Yucca Moun-
tain repository is oversubscribed. And the estimate does not include
storage space for 2,500 tons of glassifi ed radioactive liquid wastes
