WIPP leaking toxic carbon tet into air

Opened in 1999, the U.S. Department of Energy's Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, New Mexico is the first "deep geologic repository" in the world for radioactive wastes, specifically for disposing of plutonium-contaminated nuclear weapons complex wastes. As described on WIPP's homepage, the "Waste Isolation Pilot Plant uses a continuous miner to carve disposal rooms out of the Permian Salt Formation, nearly a half mile below the surface," as pictured at the left. Despite assurances by WIPP's "Chief Scientist" that it could never happen, carbon tetrachloride leaks to the air outside the facility located 2,150 feet below ground have now reached a "level of concern," as reported by a Concerned Citizens for Nuclear Safety (CCNS) news update based on research by the Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC). Beyond Nuclear, CCNS, and SRIC are members of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability. ANA's annual DC Days will be held in Washington March 14-17.

Energy Secretary Chu vows to "accelerate" nuclear loan guarantees, while affirming Yucca dump's cancellation

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, at a briefing on the Department of Energy's priorities for 2010, admitted that finalizing the first round of $18.5 billion in taxpayer-backed nuclear loan guarantees for financing new atomic reactors has proven "more complicated" than he originally thought it would be. Chu assured that the first nuclear loan guarantees would be issued "soon," despite the fact that DOE's top pick candidates are plagued with problems: the partners behind the proposed South Texas Project "Advanced Boiling Water Reactors" are embroiled in a $32 billion internecine legal dispute; the AP1000s planned at Vogtle GA and Summer SC have a major safety related design flaw, as does the Areva "Evolutionary Power Reactor" targeted at Calvert Cliffs MD. On a brighter note, Chu affirmed that "Yucca Mountain is off the table," and added that his blue ribbon commission, established to study alternatives to Yucca, will not be charged with identifying a new centralized geologic repository to take its place. This raises the specter, however, that dirty, dangerous, and expensive reprocessing may be pushed as the latest "illusion of a solution" to the radioactive waste dilemma.

New England governors "wish" high-level radioactive waste away

Seemingly suffering from a bad case of wishful thinking, a coalition of New England governors has written Energy Secretary Steven Chu urging that DOE remove irradiated nuclear fuel from their states as soon as possible. Perhaps the governors haven't kept up on the news for awhile, but there is nowhere for the waste to go away to. Ironically, their pressure might just backfire on them -- in late 2008, DOE reported to Congress and the President that there is need for a second repository (never mind that the first one has just been cancelled, so that means two new repositories are needed) for high-level radioactive waste disposal. And just as it did in the 1980s, DOE is sniffing around New England again, at granite geological formations, such as Sebago Lake ME, Hillsboro NH, and locations in VT for "suitable" sites to bury forever deadly high-level radioactive waste. The governors also claim that decommissioned nuclear power plant sites, such as Maine Yankee, Yankee Rowe in MA, and Connecticut Yankee could be readily returned to productive use. The problem is, despite NRC assurances to the contrary, the sites are still radioactively contaminated, posing health risks to future residents and visitors for a long time to come.