Above ground nuclear waste containers – are they really safe?

LobbyistsRule, – comment on The Advertiser, 11 July 16 

  The scariest thing about the Royal Commission’s dump proposal is the above ground, decades long “interim” storage. Japan and Germany use expensive solid cast iron containers  (up to 20 inches thick) to hold their waste.  The containers proposed for our dump uses thin pressurised containers that are only 5/8th of an inch (16mm) thick and are not cast but welded – they are like Baked Bean tins compared to the German casks. Sure these thin casks are placed into a thick concrete overjacket, but all that separates the fuel from the atmosphere (via the cooling vent) is just 16mm of welded stainless steel.

The temperatures inside these casks normally sit at 200 to 300 degrees Celcius – but if the vents of the concrete overjacket get blocked the temperature can rise to 500 degrees Celcius.

These casks have only been around for twenty years – they should start popping all over the USA in a decade or two.

All this information is available from the USA’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission web site for anyone to read.    http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/citizens-jury-on-sa-nuclear-waste-dump-releases-initial-report/news-story/e76096fa7ec07edcbe18ae0b989683dd

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