If I remember correctly, one of the biggest problems was the transportation issue, which no one had a solution for. How exactly do you safely transfer several tons of nuclear waste from, say, Shearon Harris to Yucca Mountain? that’s a very long train route. And you want to do this on a recurring basis? from several different locations around the country?
How exactly are you going to convince the states in between that they should permit you to transport nuclear waste across their borders, repeatedly? Who is going to provide security for all of this nuclear waste while it’s in transit? Who is going to accept liability for any accidents that occur, and who is going to handle the PR when a truckload of irradiated water gets dumped in some neighborhood?
Good luck getting anyone who even wants to explore establishing those arrangements as their full-time job. “Yes, I brokered the agreement for transporting radioactive material that resulted in a half-ton of waste being spread across ten backyards and an elementary school playground just outside of Birmingham.” Sounds like career suicide, and maybe not career suicide.
There are people who do that now. I’m not an expert but I know there is specific DOT training for exactly that purpose. By regulation the waste is packed into a specifically strong cask that has been tested to withstand being dropped, lit on fire, etc. Good luck breaking one of those open.
If I remember correctly, one of the biggest problems was the transportation issue, which no one had a solution for. How exactly do you safely transfer several tons of nuclear waste from, say, Shearon Harris to Yucca Mountain? that’s a very long train route. And you want to do this on a recurring basis? from several different locations around the country?
How exactly are you going to convince the states in between that they should permit you to transport nuclear waste across their borders, repeatedly? Who is going to provide security for all of this nuclear waste while it’s in transit? Who is going to accept liability for any accidents that occur, and who is going to handle the PR when a truckload of irradiated water gets dumped in some neighborhood?
Good luck getting anyone who even wants to explore establishing those arrangements as their full-time job. “Yes, I brokered the agreement for transporting radioactive material that resulted in a half-ton of waste being spread across ten backyards and an elementary school playground just outside of Birmingham.” Sounds like career suicide, and maybe not career suicide.
There are people who do that now. I’m not an expert but I know there is specific DOT training for exactly that purpose. By regulation the waste is packed into a specifically strong cask that has been tested to withstand being dropped, lit on fire, etc. Good luck breaking one of those open.
https://robateltech.com/transportation-and-storage-casks/
Found this in a quick search. If you pay people enough they will do it. Liability is owned by the people sending the shipment.
https://cleanmanagement.com/blog/understanding-the-cradle-to-the-grave-waste-disposal-system/
The Russian fueled tankies came up with lots of reasons
Waste is their anti nuclear trump card and they’re not willing to give that up