Dataset of the Day: The New Clear Solution
August 12th, 2008by Brian Gopalan
About the Author: To change this standard text, you have to enter some information about your self in the Dashboard -> Users -> Your Profile box. Read more from this authorWith so much of talk about energy policies on the Presidential campaign trail, I decided to look into the nuclear option that both the candidates support to different degrees. Lo and behold I found a listing of nuclear power plants in Finder!. Now that we have all these nuclear power plants with promises of more to come – what’s next – hmmm, yes, we need to store the highly radioactive spent fuel somewhere.
Senator McCain’s most frequent example that the US Navy uses nuclear powered vessels safely all the time was somewhat debunked by news that emerged from the USS Houston – a globe-trotting nuclear powered submarine, that has been leaking radiation for the past several years. Listening to Senator McCain here on YouTube describe how we will have nuclear waste lying around in a puddle of water in our street corner reminded me of the Simpsons movie where Mr. Burns could roll down nuclear waste in a truck and dump it into the lake just outside Springfield.
Of course the next thing I wanted to check was where we dump the spent nuclear waste. I added this dataset to Finder! with all the spent fuel storage installations.
The map below indicates where these dumping grounds (a.k.a storage installations) are located. It also shows the locations where nuclear power plants are located from the dataset I found in Finder!
Given the spatial concentration of most of the nuclear power plants as well as the current storage sites on the Eastern seaboard it is intriguing to note that millions of tax payer dollars have been spent into building a mega-storage facility in the Yucca mountain in Nevada. This facility is still not ready – long past its scheduled 1998 opening date. Once it does open, then comes the question of transporting all these highly radioactive wastes across the country. This article points to how Senator McCain says “no” to allow nuclear waste to be transported through Arizona – the state that got him elected, but supports building the Yucca mountain site in Nevada.
Popularity: 14% [?]
August 12th, 2008 at 10:16 am
I hope you are giving this great information to the Obama campaign!
August 12th, 2008 at 10:21 am
that is great work !
September 4th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
If we do not know how to handle the waste (and Yucca
Mt. IS not the answer) we have no “new clear” solution.
Lets face it.
What about phytoremediation? Looks like vitrication
will take too long.
Ann