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Originally posted by Niki2:
If it's built/maintained by humans, don't trust it--and the last thing we need to trust is a form of power that creates poisons which last centuries!

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ETA: But seeing as we ALREADY have nuclear waste and it might be good to fix the problem ...

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Originally posted by rue:
I've always thought the best thing to do was to concentrate it and lift it off the face of the earth - send it off to space.

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"At the end of April, the Department of Energy will stop receiving waste at its Oak Ridge incinerator and proceed with plans to shut down the one-of-a-kind facility. The incinerator has burned more than 33 million pounds of waste over the past two decades, specializing in the treatment of so-called mixed wastes that contain radioactive elements, polychlorinated biphenyls and other hazardous chemicals. DOE plans to operate the facility through Sept. 30 to burn the remaining waste, agency spokesman Walter Perry said. "At this time, approximately 1.7 million pounds of waste on the burn plan remain to be incinerated," Perry said. The incinerator was built and tested during the 1980s at a cost of $26 million. Full-scale operations began in 1991. Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's environmental manager in Oak Ridge, currently operates the incinerator and will conduct the closure operations."
-Knoxville News Sentinel, "DOE closing Oak Ridge incinerator, Remaining waste to be burned at unique OR facility before closure," April 20, 2009

"Oak Ridge currently stores more low-level nuclear waste than any other DOE site in the nation. Oak Ridge facilities have more than 47,000 cubic yards of low-level waste in storage - roughly a third of DOE's total inventory nationwide. 26,937 cubic yards at East Tennessee Technology Park (formerly known as the K-25 site). 11,435 cubic yards at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. 8,907 cubic yards at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant. Many of the containers are stored outdoors, exposed to the elements."
—Frank Munger, editor, Knoxville News-Sentinel, "DOE on mission to cut costs, clean up low-level nuclear waste", March 4, 2002

"The Oak Ridge plant remains an integral cog in the U.S. nuclear defense, producing new parts for existing weapons and recycling old warheads from retired systems. Y-12, of course, is a symbolic location for protests because the plant produced the enriched uranium used in the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima, Japan, Aug. 6, 1945. Y-12 also serves as the nation's principal repository for bomb-grade uranium."
—Frank Munger, editor, Knoxville News-Sentinel, "Y-12 a cool place for protesters on a budget ", February 6, 2002

"Oak Ridge National Laboratory is a world campus, and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and security-related fallout from those tragedies will not change that. ORNL confirmed that about 1,500 foreign nationals from 69 countries - Argentina to Zaire - currently are visiting the Oak Ridge lab. Thom Mason, the director of the Spallation Neutron Source, the biggest U.S. science project under construction, is not an American citizen. "I only got my green card in July,'' Mason said. More than 100 foreign nationals are full-time members of the scientific staff, and those numbers, of course, do not reflect the number of foreign-born scientists and engineers who have become naturalized U.S. citizens over the years. Recent statistics compiled by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education show that 40 percent of the graduate degrees in nuclear engineering at U.S. institutions were awarded to foreign nationals. Similar stats are found across the sciences and math and computing."
—Frank Munger, editor, Knoxville News-Sentinel, "Oak Ridge lab is truly a global community", October 10, 2001

KNOX COUNTY, TN
Ranking in USA 1996 (latest data available for 2001)

diesel particulate matter 1 2 top 95% (HIGHEST RATING)
acetaldehyde (poisonous byproduct in metabolism of alcohol beverages) top 90%
acrolein top 90%
acrylonitrile top 75%
arsenic compunds top 50%
benzene top 90%
beryllium compounds top 75% (Oak Ridge top 95%)
1,3 butadiene top top 95%
cadmium compounds top 50% (Oak Ridge top 95%)
carbon tetrachloride top 90%
chloroform top 90% (Loudon County top 95%)
chromium compounds top 75% (Oak Ridge top 90%)
coke oven emissions below 25% (all of TN)
1,3 dichloropropene top 90%
ethlylene dibromide top 75% (Loudon County top 90%)
ethylene dichlroride top top 50% (Oak Ridge top 95%)
ethylene oxide top 90%
formaldehyde top 90%
hexachlorobenzene 25% to 50%
hydrazine (rocket fuel) top 75% (Cocke County top 95%)
lead top 50% (Oak Ridge top 90%)
manganese compounds top 75% (Roane County top 90%)
mercury compounds top 75% (Oak Ridge top 95%)
methylene chloride (triggers false positive in BAC DWI testing) top 75% (Roane County top 90%)
nickel compounds top 75% (Oak Ridge top 90%)
perchloroethylene top 90%
polychlorinated biphenyle (PCB) bottom 25% (all TN)
polycylic organic matter (PCM) top 75%
7-PAH top 50%
propilene dichloride top 75% (Loudon County top 95%)
quinolene top 75%
1,1,2,2 tetrachloroethane top 75% (Loudon County top 95%)
tichloroethylene top 90% (Loudon County top 95%)
vinyl chloride top 90% (Loudon County top 95%)
The Municipal Waste Combustors account for over 61 percent of the total dioxin emissions and almost 19 percent of the national man-made emissions of mercury. Hospital/Medical Infectious Waste Incinerators account for 11 percent of the total dioxin emissions and 10 percent of the national man-made emissions of mercury.

LOCKHEED MARTIN ENERGY SYS. U.S. DOE Y-12 PLANT
OAK RIDGE, TN
manufacturer -- release to air (1996)
hydrochloric acid = 138,595 lbs/yr
sulphuric acid = 53,283 lbs/yr
methanol = 30,525 lbs/yr
mercury = 140 lbs/yr
lead = 4,923 lbs/yr

www.geocities.com/knoxville_tn_epa

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INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF THE EAST TENNESSEE TECHNOLOGY PARK

Office of Environment, Safety and Health, U.S. Department of Energy (2000)

Pollution above toxic levels surrounding Oak Ridge Nuclear Laboratory (ETTP)

PDF Report (200 pages)
www.defendingscience.org/upload/Portsmouth_vol1.pdf
www.archive.org/details/IndependentInvestigationOfTheEastTennesseeTech
nologyPark

http://tis.eh.doe.gov/oversight/reports/gdps/0010ettp/0010ettp.html (reclassified Top Secret)

HTML Report (200 pages reclassified Top Secret)
http://tis.eh.doe.gov/oversight/reports/gdps/0010ettp/index.html

Highlights Verbatum from the declassified portion of the Report:

"Conservative estimates indicated that 35,000 pounds of uranium were released into the air from all sources. 4,300 pounds of uranium a month was unaccounted for or released to the environment. ETTP operates an incinerator which handles radioactive, hazardous and uranium-contaminated PCB wastes. ETTP generated transuranic elements (isotopes with atomic numbers greater than uranium) such as neptunium-237 and plutonium-239; fission products such as techneitum-99; PCBs; toxic metals; and volatile organic compunds such as trichloroethene (TCE) and present risk to the public. Some contaminants migrated outside the Plant boundary. Waste disposal practices included direct discharge of radioactive materials, toxics and caustics to holding ponds and storm drains, and incineration and burial. Reports reflected a number of spills of nitric and hydrochloric acids, in one case 200 gallons. Numerous large fires and explosions were reported. It is impossible to characterize exposure because of inadequate surveys and incomplete records. Records indicate that as contamination levels increased, exposure controls were reduced. Contamination above limits was commonly detected. Operations have released a variety of contaminants into the environment, such as burial of low-level and hazardous waste in landfills and dumping directly into the Clinch River. Large amounts of contaminated equipment and scrap material were sold at public auction. Tens of thousands of pounds of flourine and hydrogen flouride were emitted annually. The investigation team identified over 600 releases of uranium hexaflouride, and a large, visible cloud was released outside a building. Exposure to 'intense clouds' of uranium powder dusts was prevalent and resulted in intense beta radiation fields. Each month dozens or workers were identified as having exposures exceeding plant control guides. Extensive contamination was prevalent. Recordsindicate many air samples in excess of Plant Allowable Limits. Both chemical and radiological materials have routinely been discharged from the Plant, from both sanitary sewage and storm water systems and materials were directly discharged in Mitchell Branch and Poplar Creek. One million pounds of blowdown water was discharged a day. The hexavalent chromium concentration in Poplar Creek is equal to the level regulated by the site's permit. Contents of 500 uranium hexafloride and other gas cylinders were emptied into the unlined holding pond by shooting the cylinders with high-powered rifles, and this pond discharged into Poplar Creek. Records confirm that radiation exceeded drinking water standards. Over 80,000 drums of pond sludge with low concentrations of uranium were generated in 1988. Ventilation was modified to discharge mercury fumes above the roof. Elevated levels of mercury were found in urinalyses. Records refer to the recovery of tons of mercury. Traps would blow out spilling mercury on the floor. Air sampling in the 1990s identified mercury levels several times the Threshold Limit Value. Continual and volumnous process leaks (blowoffs) were vented to the atmosphere. 4,300 pounds of uranium hexaflouride were released per month. Losses were excessive. 10,000 union grievances were filed and management disputed grievances concerning safety in favor of economic considerations. Many storm drains were not moitored before 1992, and routine and accidental wastes have adversely impacted the environment and the aquatic habitat. Weaknesses in the sampling and monitoring of air pollutant emissions raise concerns regarding the accuracy of public dose and exposure calculations. Environmental radiological protection and surveillance are not compliant with DOE Order. Few records reflect involvement by the Atomic Energy Commission in investigations of serious events. Levels of airborne radioactivity were as high as 35,800 dpm/ft3, and far exceeded the PAL of 2 dpm/ft3. [That's radiation levels over 17,000 times the maximum limit.] Airborne radioactivity far in excess of normal background levels was measured off-site as far as five miles away. A number of criticality and sub-criticality accident experiments were performed and posed a severe radiation hazard. Bladder cancer rates were seven times higher than for the general population, and stomach ulcers were 6.5 times greater. Inhalation of airborn radiation can increase the risk of future cancer." [verbatum from the Report]

"A recent decision in a federal lawsuit will result in the continued recycling of thousands of tons of radioactive metal for use in household products. Because of a loophole in the Superfund cleanup law, a federal judge said she could not order the Department of Energy (DOE) to stop the practice by which nuclear materials are recycled and used in everyday consumer products. The nuclear industry, in cooperation with the federal government, has been attempting to "deregulate" radioactive metals from weapon facilities and decommissioned nuclear power plants since the 1970s. Public Citizen and other citizens' organizations have successfully prevented this practice prior to the ruling. In a June 29 decision, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler used strong language about the danger this recycling poses to the public, but said she could not order the DOE to write an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), thanks to a Superfund loophole. The judge described as "startling and worrisome" the absence of opportunity for "public scrutiny or input on a matter of such grave importance ... the potential for environmental harm is great, especially given the unprecedented amount of hazardous materials which the Defendants seek to recycle." The result: 100,000 tons of radioactive metals to be sold as scrap metal for use in items ranging from frying pans to baby carriages, said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy Project."
-Citizen.org, "Ruling Allows Radioactive Metal in Household Products"

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Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
So why hasnt anyone been able to harness the power of the sun?

Seriously.

We have an unlimited source of energy above our heads... but noone has tapped it.

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