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Clean Nuclear Energy And its future in The U.S.

Explore the need for a central repository for nuclear waste, the current storage problems, and potential solutions for a permanent repository. Also discusses the future of nuclear energy in the US and its role in meeting growing energy needs.

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Clean Nuclear Energy And its future in The U.S.

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  1. Clean Nuclear EnergyAnd its future in The U.S. PRESENTED BY: KAYLA ROONEY, MIKE MORRISON, & SHAUN PIERRE

  2. Why do we need a repository? • Spent nuclear fuel and waste are hazardous • Remain toxic for thousands of years • Environmental damage • Cause cancer • Other harmful effects/threats

  3. How much is there? • 75,000 metric tons • Produced from 80 sites throughout 35 states • Expected to be doubled by 2055

  4. Where is it now? • Interim • Temporary designated areas • On-site storage • Plants have storage areas

  5. On-Site Storage Problems • Plants generally commissioned for 40 years • Some recommission for 20 • Storage areas reaching capacity • Reracking/organization • 60 years to safely decommission a plant • Storage considered safe for another 60 years after that

  6. Permanent Repository Options • Space • High costs • Risks associated with launch failure • Transmutation to harmless materials • High costs • Not necessarily 100% effective • Geological

  7. Geological Repositories • Nuclear Waste Policy Act, 1982 • Yucca Mountain, 1987 • Funding shut down in 2010 • Political reasons • Locals unsatisfied

  8. Nuclear power does not have a future without a central waste repository. VIEWPOINT #1

  9. Currently? • Nuclear waste generated in the U.S. is stored at or near one of the 121 facilities across the country where it is generated

  10. On Site Storage? • In the short term, irradiated reactor fuel should be stored as safely as possible on site or as close to the point of generation as possible for an interim period.

  11. On-site storage is not a sound strategy for the long term • Possibility of reprocessing • Leaks and accidents • Requires constant monitoring • Destruction of waste storage containers by natural disasters or terrorism

  12. On-site storage is not a sound strategy for the long term The temporary casks are only licensed to hold radioactive waste for 20 years. • Another 49,000 metric tons is being held in spent-fuel pools, waiting to be placed in vessels. • More than 800 filled casks await a final destination, holding 14,000 metric tons of waste. • A further 2,000 metric tons of nuclear reactor waste is created every year.

  13. Maine Yankee Facility • Nuclear power plant built in Wiscasset, Maine • Operated from 1972-1996 • Decommissioned and dismantled between 1997-2005 • Left behind: 64 steel and concrete casks that hold 542 metric tons of radioactive waste • Protected by barbed wire, cameras, and a security force

  14. Federal Government’s Obligation to Remove and Dispose of Nuclear Waste • More than 10 years behind schedule • Has paid nuclear utilities $565 million in compensation for costs incurred because of its failure to meet that schedule. • DOE currently estimates that liabilities to electric utilities for such damages will total more than $12 billion if the department begins to accept nuclear waste by 2020. -Kim Cawley, chief of the Natural and Physical Resources Cost Estimates Unit

  15. Viewpoint 2: Is there a future?Yes. • Nuclear Energy is a modern energy • Still Being debated to use or not • Is it safe • Is it manageable • Will it sustain our growing energy needs

  16. The Building of New Nuclear • In 2005, 30 nations declare first nuclear installs plus 65 claim interests plus 30 already running • 14% Global Electricity (2012) • 20 apps have been filed with Nuclear Regulatory Commission,18 Col Apps • 28 Reactors/ 18 sites in US

  17. Slow But Sure Progress • Bureaucratic Approval/ Re-approvals • Focus on Form and Function • Safety measurements built-in • Cooperation between Govt., Privet, and Safety • This assures the best plants possible • Prepared for all possible scenarios

  18. Remy Carle(SES) French ElectricsNuclear Power (presses Universitaires de France 1994) • Accident prevention, from the initial design stage, through careful sizing of all installations, the taking into account of possible equipment failures and human error, the taking into account of external hazards, the implementation of safety systems, and the quality control of the design and execution of equipment and work • Continuous monitoring during operation, according to procedures monitored by national authorities • Implementation of safety systems to maintain the cooling of nuclear fuel and prevent the release of radioactive products in the event of abnormal operation • Definition of emergency planning and procedures to deal with the highly improbably event of a serious accident

  19. Looking Ahead: Fast Reactors • Gen IV, much more efficient • Large cut in waste volume • To this date: Safer than current Reactors • Universal Push ( US, Japan, France)

  20. Aggressive Govt. Support • Govt. loans • Incentives for early investors • Adding a CO2 tax on coal and Natural Gas • Ensures competitive cost to Nuclear • Pushes Privet investors towards Nuclear

  21. Gallup Polls show support rising

  22. Our consensus • A central repository is necessary for nuclear power’s future

  23. Work-sited • Ahearne, John F, Albert V. Carr, JR. Harold A Felveson, Daniel Ingersoll, Andrew C Klein, Stephen Maloney, Ivan Oelrich, Sharon Swuassoni, and Richard Wolfson. "The Future Of Nuclear Power In The United States." Ed. Charles C Ferguson and Frank A Settle. Federation Of American Scientists/ Wahsington and Lee University, 1 Jan. 2012. Web. Nov. 2014. <http://fas.org/pubs/_docs/Nuclear_Energy_Report-lowres.pdf>. • "Fast Neutron Reactors." World Nuclear Association. World Nuclear Association, 1 Jan. 2014. Web. Nov. 2014. <http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Current-and-Future-Generation/Fast-Neutron-Reactors/>. • http://www.greenamerica.org/programs/climate/dirtyenergy/nuclear.cfm • http://ieer.org/resource/factsheets/yucca-mountain/ • http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/nuclear-faq.html • http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/smart-takes/ticking-time-bombs-what-should-we-do-with-nuclear-waste/?tag=content%3Bcol1 • http://ansnuclearcafe.org/2014/09/16/surface-storage-of-used-nuclear-fuel-safe-cost-effective-and-flexible/

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