What's A Mother to do with 2700 Used Nuclear Fuel Assemblies

"the proposed Yucca Mountain repository could withstand whatever earthquakes Mother Nature might muster – except, perhaps, the shifting of the political ground."

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) initially estimated that the spill released 1.7 million cubic yards (1.3 million m³) of sludge, which is gray in color.[1][2] After an aerial survey, the official estimate was more than tripled to 5.4 million cubic yards (4 million m³) on December 25, 2008.[1][3] The spill covered surrounding land with up to six feet (1.8 m) of sludge.[4] The EPA first estimated that the spill would take four to six weeks to clean up; however, Chandra Taylor, the staff attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center, said the cleanup could take months and possibly years.[5] As of June 2009, six months following the spill, only 3% of the spill had been cleaned and is now estimated to cost between $675 and $975 million to clean, according to the TVA.[6]

The first problem is of course that there is no national repository. Thank politics for that one.

These heavy metals I assume are quite dangerous, but as dangerous as radioactive trash?


If there were as many incidents of nuclear leakage as fly ash, wouldn't we be a bit more concerned?

"What most people don't understand is that without a national repository, there are multiple sites across the country where spent fuel is stored. Google tells me there are 99 plants in 30 states operating which means that there are 99 of these sites across the country which stores spent nuclear fuel. My guess is that some of those have far more potential to harm the environment than San Onofre. But still, that risk is much lower than what has happened and will continue to happen at Coal Fired Plants."