Germany is closing all its nuclear power plants. Now it must find a place to bury the deadly waste for 1 million years
5 years, 3 months ago

Germany is closing all its nuclear power plants. Now it must find a place to bury the deadly waste for 1 million years

CNN  

CNN — When it comes to the big questions plaguing the world’s scientists, they don’t get much larger than this. This is the “wicked problem” facing Germany as it closes all of its nuclear power plants in the coming years, according to Professor Miranda Schreurs, part of the team searching for a storage site. Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy says it aims to find a final repository for highly radioactive waste “which offers the best possible safety and security for a period of a million years.” The country was a “blank map” of potential sites, it added. Protesters have blocked railway tracks to stop what they described as “Chernobyl on wheels” – containers of radioactive waste headed for Gorleben’s temporary storage facility. With more than 400 nuclear power plants around the world, many nearing the end of their operating lifetimes, the issue of waste storage will only become more urgent, said Schreurs.

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History of this topic

A nuclear-power revival brings back an old problem: What to do with the waste
2 weeks, 3 days ago

A nuclear-power revival brings back an old problem: What to do with the waste

Live Mint  

A nuclear power renaissance—driven in part by power-hungry AI data centers—has revived a thorny problem: what to do with the radioactive waste left behind. The waste has accumulated in spent-fuel pools and dry casks intended for temporary storage since the U.S. nuclear industry began to take off in the 1960s, and the DOE’s failure to permanently dispose of the waste …

Japan to start reusing soil from Fukushima despite public concerns over radioactivity
6 months, 1 week ago

Japan to start reusing soil from Fukushima despite public concerns over radioactivity

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Japan will reuse millions of …

The place where no humans will tread for 100,000 years
1 year, 6 months ago

The place where no humans will tread for 100,000 years

BBC  

The place where no humans will tread for 100,000 years Erika Benke Journalist Erika Benke visited Onkalo, the world's first permanent storage site for spent nuclear fuel, in May 2023 In a few years, Finland will begin depositing spent nuclear fuel underground in Onkalo, where it will remain for millennia. A tour at Onkalo, which lies 450m below the ground, …

Japan's nuclear plants are short of storage for spent fuel. A remote town could have the solution
1 year, 7 months ago

Japan's nuclear plants are short of storage for spent fuel. A remote town could have the solution

The Independent  

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Kaminoseki, a small town in the southwestern prefecture of …

Government abandons plan to dump nuclear waste near Kimba, sparking new hunt for dump site
1 year, 7 months ago

Government abandons plan to dump nuclear waste near Kimba, sparking new hunt for dump site

ABC  

The federal government has formally abandoned plans to build a low-level nuclear waste dump near Kimba in regional South Australia. Key points: The planned nuclear waste site near Kimba, SA, has been formally abandoned The Federal Court ruled against Coalition plans to dump nuclear waste there The Opposition claims it is a massive setback Last month the Federal Court ruled …

Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100,000 years
1 year, 9 months ago

Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100,000 years

BBC  

Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100,000 years Getty Images Finland plans to permanently bury its nuclear waste deep below the ground at its Onkalo site on an island near its coast Finland is on the verge of becoming the first nation to bury spent nuclear fuel rods deep underground for the long term. According to Law, the …

Mansion without a toilet: Towns in Japan seek to house, store nuclear waste out of necessity
4 years, 5 months ago

Mansion without a toilet: Towns in Japan seek to house, store nuclear waste out of necessity

Firstpost  

Radioactive waste needs to be stored away for a few centuries in thick concrete structures underground so it won’t affect humans and the environment. Two remote towns in northern Japan struggling with rapidly graying and shrinking populations signed up Friday to possibly host a high-level radioactive waste storage site as a means of economic survival. Japanese utilities have about 16,000 …

Germany launches new search for nuclear waste storage site
4 years, 5 months ago

Germany launches new search for nuclear waste storage site

Associated Press  

BERLIN — Germany has launched a new search for a site to store its most radioactive nuclear waste, eliminating a disputed site at a former salt mine that was earmarked decades ago and has long been a focus of protests. A report issued Monday by Germany’s waste management organization, or BGE, identified 90 areas covering 54% of the country’s surface …

How to build a nuclear warning for 10,000 years’ time
4 years, 7 months ago

How to build a nuclear warning for 10,000 years’ time

BBC  

How to build a nuclear warning for 10,000 years’ time Getty Images The nuclear waste buried far beneath the earth will be toxic for thousands of years. Getty Images Finland is also working on ways to try and warn future generations about a nuclear waste site it plans to build “The role of the RK&M is to investigate the effective …

Nuclear waste could be buried underneath national parks, say MPs
6 years, 7 months ago

Nuclear waste could be buried underneath national parks, say MPs

The Independent  

Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Get our free Climate email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Nuclear waste could be stored in vaults deep underneath national parks after MPs approved a …

Editorial: There’s no great answer for nuclear waste, but almost anything is better than perching it on the Pacific
7 years, 6 months ago

Editorial: There’s no great answer for nuclear waste, but almost anything is better than perching it on the Pacific

LA Times  

One of the great failures in U.S. energy policy was that we’ve never figured out what to do with the lethally radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants. That’s why the owners of the decommissioned San Onofre nuclear plant have had little choice but to keep their spent fuel rods on site, bundled up in concrete bunkers at the edge …

The controversial plan to fill a mine with nuclear waste
8 years, 1 month ago

The controversial plan to fill a mine with nuclear waste

BBC  

The controversial plan to fill a mine with nuclear waste Chris Baraniuk The first long-term repository of its kind in the world, a disused iron mine in Germany is getting ready to receive 300,000 containers of nuclear waste – but not everyone is happy. Chris Baraniuk The Konrad mine in Salzgitter, Germany, produced iron for more than a century, from …

German protestors delay nuclear waste train
14 years, 4 months ago

German protestors delay nuclear waste train

The Hindu  

A train carrying nuclear waste was slowed down by activists on Sunday as it continued its journey to a storage site in northern Germany. The highly radioactive transport was delayed by almost two hours early on Sunday, when two activists suspended themselves over the railway tracks, forcing the train to slow down to a crawl. Nuclear opponents also fear that …

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