EU directive on "deep geologic disposal" still contains loophole for reprocessing in foreign countries

Reuters has reported that the European Union has set a deadline of 2015 for its 14 member states with nuclear power industries -- comprising a total of 143 atomic reactors -- to come up with plans for "deep geologic disposal" sites for burial of their high-level radioactive wastes. However, the EU admits it will take as long as 40 years to construct those repositories. Deutsche Welle also reported on this story, including on the loophole in the new EU directive that will still allow high-level radioactive waste exports to foreign countries for reprocessing, so long as those countries also have deep geologic repositories.

As Yucca gives up the ghost, specter of reprocessing rears its ugly head

While the court ruling on July 1st against the Yucca dump is a major environmental justice victory for the Western Shoshone Indian Nation, President Obama's Blue Ribbon Commission for America's Nuclear Future is advocating "centralized interim storage" for commercial high-level radioactive waste -- de facto permanent parking lot dumps. But consolidating irradiated nuclear fuel would make it a short step to reviving reprocessing in the U.S. for the first time since 1972. DOE's Savannah River Site, South Carolina is a top contender for a parking lot dump that could then lead to a reprocessing facility. And a number of sites in Illinois, including the Dresden nuclear power plant and adjacent, aborted General Electric reprocessing facility in Morris, were also in the running, just a few years ago, to host "centralized interim storage" and even a plutonium-extraction facility under the George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Sam Bodman "Global Nuclear Energy Partnership" attempt to revive commercial reprocessing in the U.S.