Leaked document reveals White House nuclear waste plan

Schwartzreport · a week ago · 55 views

Hannah Northey and Francisco "A.J." Camacho,  Reporter and Contributing Writer  -  PoliticoStephan: Do you remember Chernobyl and Fukushima? The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986. The Fukushima nuclear disaster began on March 11, 2011, triggered by the massive 9.0 magnitude Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Neither has still been resolved. The U.S. government -- which means you and me -- already spends between $4.5 billion and $5 billion annually on the interim management, ongoing storage, and environmental cleanup of nuclear waste. Did you know that the required storage time for nuclear waste ranges from a few decades to hundreds of thousands of years, depending on its radioactivity level? Civilian nuclear power was created originally so that there were enough job opportunities to create the needed nuclear engineers and technicians to support the development of nuclear powered submarines, and nuclear weapons and missiles. Now the most incompetent and dishonest president in 250 years, in order to create more profits for the corporations that make nuclear reactors, is trying to expand nuclear energy, instead of far cheaper non-polluting renewable non-carbon energy. This will inevitablly produce more potential Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters Nuclear waste storage silos in 2022 at Columbia Generating Station near Richland, Washington. Credit: Francis Chung / Politico The White House is pushing Congress to break a decades-long impasse around the handling of nuclear waste and entice states to get on board, according to a document obtained by POLITICO. The Trump administration is seeking changes to federal law to allow the Department of Energy to partner with states willing to store waste generated at the nation’s nuclear reactors, according to the document laying out “legislative principles.” It has been circulating on Capitol Hill and among nuclear industry leaders. When asked about the document, a White House official said Monday that the administration “is always looking for ways to advance our civil nuclear energy sector.” The legislative blueprint comes as President Donald Trump pushes to quadruple America’s production of nuclear power over the next 25 years, despite there being no long-term solution for the waste piling up at active and decommissioned reactors across the country. The document calls for scrapping Yucca Mountain in Nevada as the nation’s [...]Read the Full Article »