Just how safe is nuclear waste?
In the nuclear world, statistics are hotly debated, says Lois Parshley. Industry experts often claim that the nuclear accident at Chernobyl killed just 28 people, for example. Other specialists claim 4,000 – even as many as half a million. Assessing the non-fatal and longer-term impact, in terms of lingering radiation and the effects on health, is even trickier.
Swept under the carpet
Given this uncertainty, can the reassurances that nuclear waste will be effectively and safely dealt with be trusted? There are reasons to be doubtful. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation, in eastern Washington in the
US, is home to the world’s first production-scale nuclear reactor, built during World
War II. Today, the site’s holding tanks contain millions of gallons of nuclear waste, created over decades. Tanks the size of a school gym hold toxic slurries that bubble, releasing toxic, explosive and radioactive gases, which must occasionally be ventilated to relieve pressure.
Shockingly, exposure to such lethal fumes is not unknown among Hanford’s workers
– in July 2021, a state report found that 57% of them had reported exposure to hazardous materials. Yet the occasional exposure to toxic materials – suffered by local residents as well as workers – is far from the worst risk. It “wouldn’t take much for a tank to fuel a massive explosion”, one that the Hanford Challenge watchdog says could spread radiation over a huge area. Some of the tanks reached the end of their design life decades ago.
In an ideal world such dangers could perhaps be managed. But in this world, the dangers are compounded by
“extraordinary pressure” on the Department of Energy’s (DOE) budget, which has not grown in proportion to costs. To cope the DOE has extended deadlines for dealing with the waste, reclassified it so that it can legally be left hanging around, and generally saving itself between $73bn and $210bn. A 100-year monitoring period is promised. Plutonium’s isotopes have a half-life of 24,100 years. Others hang around for longer.
Across the US there are now 90 million gallons of high-level waste from defence along with around 21 million gallons from civilian power, all waiting for a permanent solution. The promised “clean up” isn’t happening. The necessary work at Hanford began in 2002. Since then the estimated cost has tripled and the completion date pushed back by almost two decades. Even if completed, the construction of the needed long-term storage facility has “permanently stalled”. “As the site’s infrastructure ages, it’s hard to overstate the danger.”