Nuclear Waste Storage Facilities Research Articles

Bridging the Distance: Common Issues of the Rural West ed. by David B. Danbom

Reviewed by: Bridging the Distance: Common Issues of the Rural West ed. by David B. Danbom J. L. Anderson David B. Danbom, ed., Bridging the Distance: Common Issues of the Rural West. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2015. 312 pp. $30.00. Bridging the Distance brings together scholars from multiple disciplines to reckon with the issue of the vast space of the rural West. The authors in the collection represent fields as diverse as journalism, law, geography, public health, and history, to name just a few. They engage the history of energy industry, broadband access, small town economies, the Sagebrush Rebellion and more. The collection was born at a conference sponsored by the Bill Lane Center for the American West at Stanford University. To his credit, editor David Danbom has forged those widely divergent approaches and disciplines into a collection that delivers on its promise to show how the expansiveness of the rural West has been a challenge not only for westerners but also for scholars who attempt to make sense of it. Each of the essays engage the topic of bridging physical or cultural distance. Of course, it is impossible to convey a full sense of the ten essays in the book, so a few highlights will suffice. Jon Lauck demonstrates how the West has figured in the historical imagination as well as the importance of regionalism. Historian David Rich Lewis traces the divide between Utah [End Page 89] officials and the Goshute as well as among Goshutes over the suitability and desire for economic development a temporary storage facility for nuclear waste in Skull Valley. State officials went to great lengths to undermine the native decision to bring hazardous waste into Skull Valley even as the state welcomed other toxic waste, some of it more toxic than that proposed by the Goshutes. In an essay on the reporting of a small-town scandal in Colorado, journalism professor Judy Miller describes the importance of the distance between insider and outsider in news reporting. In other essays, readers learn how water and wolves divide communities as well as how rural Hispanics have disproportionately poor health outcomes compared to their urban counterparts and the general population. The collection succeeds in large part because the multidiscipline case-study approach effectively conveys the complexity of the region. Furthermore, every one of the essays directly relates to the issue of distance. Readers learn how rural westerners overcame some problems associated with distance and how they failed to resolve many other problems. Scholars interested in addressing the common issues of the Midwest should pay close attention to Bridging the Distance and draw inspiration from its success. J. L. Anderson Mount Royal University Calgary, Alberta Copyright © 2018 Paul Mokrzycki Renfro

Allium-test as a tool for toxicity testing of environmental radioactive-chemical mixtures

Bioassay-based approaches have been propagated to assess toxicity of unknown mixtures of environmental contaminants, but it was rarely applied in cases of chemicals with radionuclides combinations. Two Allium-test studies were performed to assess environmental impact from potential sources of combined radioactive-chemical pollution. Study sites were located at nuclear waste storage facilities in European and in Far-Eastern parts of Russia. As environmental media under impact, waters from monitor wells and nearby water bodies were tested. Concentrations of some chemicals and radionuclides in the samples collected enhanced the permitted limits. Cytogenetic and cytotoxic effects were used as biological endpoints, namely, frequency and spectrum of chromosome aberrations and mitotic abnormalities in anatelophase cells as well as mitotic activity in Allium root tips. Sample points were revealed where waters have an enhanced mutagenic potential. The findings obtained could be used to optimize monitoring system and advance decision making on management and rehabilitation of industrial sites. The Allium-test could be recommended and applied as an effective tool for toxicity testing in case of combined contamination of environmental compartments with radionuclides and chemical compounds.

Experimental Study on RFID Antenna Reading Areas in a Tunnel System

We study optimized antenna reading area mappings for a radiofrequency identification- (RFID-) based access monitoring system, used in an underground nuclear waste storage facility. We shortly introduce the access monitoring system developed for the ONKALO tunnel in Finland and describe the antenna mounting points as well as the research area. Finally, we study the measurement results of the antenna reading areas and factors that affect the reading area size. Based on our results, in addition to antenna location and direction, absorption to obstacles, reflections, diffraction, scattering, and refraction affect the antenna reading area.

Development and Implementation of an RFID-Based Tunnel Access Monitoring System

Due to safety reasons, the exact number and location of people working in an underground tunnel need to be known all the time. This work introduces the development and implementation of an RFID-based access monitoring system for the ONKALO nuclear waste storage facility. This system was taken into use in 2010 and was systematically monitored for one year. The system principle and the used equipment are presented in this paper together with the reliability evaluation results of the implemented system. According to the field use evaluation of the ready system, the reading reliability at the end of the monitoring period was 100%. In addition, even after the successful monitoring period, the system has been updated and new features for safety improvement have been created based on fire department guidelines and achieved user experience. In the future, the RFID system has been planned to be used also in the final depositing of the used nuclear fuel and buffer materials.

World's first construction license awarded for underground nuclear waste storage facility

World's first construction license awarded for underground nuclear waste storage facility

Assessing the feasibility of interrogating nuclear waste storage silos using cosmic-ray muons

Muon radiography is a fast growing field in applied scientific research. In recent years, many detector technologies and imaging techniques using the Coulomb scattering and absorption properties of cosmic-ray muons have been developed for the non-destructive assay of various structures across a wide range of applications. This work presents the first results that assess the feasibility of using muon radiography to interrogate waste silos within the U.K. Nuclear Industry. Two such approaches, using different techniques that exploit each of these properties, have previously been published, and show promising results from both simulation and experimental data for the detection of shielded high-Z materials and density variations from volcanic assay. Both detection systems used are based on scintillator and photomultiplier technologies. Results from dedicated simulation studies using both these proven technologies and image reconstruction techniques are presented for an intermediate-sized legacy nuclear waste storage facility filled with concrete and an array of uranium samples. Both results highlight the potential to identify uranium objects of varying thicknesses greater than 5 cm within real-time durations of several weeks. Increased contributions from Coulomb scattering within the concrete matrix of the structure hinder the ability of both approaches to resolve similar objects of 2 cm dimensions even with increased statistics. These results are all dependent on both the position of the objects within the facility and the locations of the detectors. Results for differing thicknesses of concrete, which reflect the non-standard composition of these complex, legacy structures under interrogation, are also presented alongside studies performed for a series of data collection durations. It is anticipated that with further research and optimisation of detector technologies and geometries, muon radiography in one, or both of these forms, will play a key role in future industrial applications within the U.K. Nuclear Industry.

South Korean Nuclear Energy Policies and the Public Agenda in the 21st Century

Nuclear energy continues to be a major component of South Korean energy policy, despite the nuclear accident in Fukushima and several incidents in domestic nuclear power plants in 2011. There is growing unease among the Korean public regarding the safety of nuclear energy, but these grievances do not translate into demands for policy changes. This article introduces how different actors and their preferences affected the public agenda related to nuclear energy, comparing the protests against a nuclear waste storage facility in Buan County in 2003 and 2004 with the reactions to the Fukushima accident and domestic incidents in more recent years. Using agenda‐setting theory, this article aims to shed light on the dynamics of these events on actors, the decision‐making processes and the reasons for the lack of concerted effort by citizens and civic groups to demand changes in the country's energy policies.

Case study of a full-scale load test of a piled raft with an interposed layer for a nuclear storage facility

The ICEDA nuclear waste storage facility is being constructed near Lyon, France. It is founded on a thick clay deposit using settlement-reducing piles as soil improvement, making it the first nuclear installation in France employing this technique. The high safety requirements of the project, combined with the use of an innovative system based on piles disconnected from the foundation, have necessitated detailed studies of the soil–structure behaviour. In addition to an extensive ground investigation, a full-scale in situ test was carried out over a period of 6 months. This paper presents some of the experience gained from the project, focusing on the findings from the full-scale test compared with a class A prediction. It illustrates the difficulty in choosing soil parameters that are representative of the soil formation as a whole, and the value that the full-scale test had in the design for ICEDA.

Incorporation of strontium in earthworm-secreted calcium carbonate granules produced in strontium-amended and strontium-bearing soil

This paper investigates the incorporation of Sr into biomineralized calcium carbonate granules secreted by the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris. Experiments were conducted using an agricultural soil amended with Sr(NO3)2 to give concentrations in the range 50–500mgkg−1 Sr and a naturally Sr-rich, Celestine-bearing soil containing up to 11 000mgkg−1 Sr. Granule production rates were in the range 0.26–2.3 mgCaCO3 earthworm−1day−1; they showed no relationship with soil or soil solution Sr concentration but decreased with decreasing pH. Strong relationships exist (r2⩾0.8, p⩽0.01) between the Sr concentrations and Sr/Ca ratios of the granules and those of the soil, soil solution and earthworms. The highest bulk Sr concentration we recorded in the calcium carbonate granules was 5.1wt.% Sr whilst electron microprobe analysis recorded spot concentrations of up to 4.3wt.% Sr. X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicate that the majority of the calcium carbonate is present as Sr-bearing calcite with trace amounts of Sr-bearing vaterite also being present. The granules produced in the Sr-amended soils concentrated Sr relative to Ca from the bulk soil and the earthworms. This suggests that earthworm secreted calcium carbonate may be significant in the cycling of 90Sr released into soils via nuclear accidents or leakage from nuclear waste storage facilities.

Wrestling with the Hydra of Nuclear Waste Storage in the United States

Despite decades of legal and policy action, and billions of dollars expended on a recently scrapped permanent nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain, the inability to resolve the longstanding issue of waste will seriously threaten a nuclear renaissance in the United States.

Evaluation, analysis and prediction of geologic structures

Balanced cross-sections claim to be better because they apply a rigorous set of rules to develop the conceptual model of the structures present in an area. Balanced cross-sections can be further improved and become more useful to understanding real physical problems by collection of additional data such as seismic reflection surveys, collection of additional stratigraphic data, or collection of rock fabric information. The additional information validates the initial model and provides details on deformation conditions and on local rock responses to the deformation. Although individual cross-sections are two dimensional, the objective of evaluation and analysis of deformed regions should be three dimensional whenever possible to recognize the challenges of the real world. Subsurface system analysis derived from the hydrologic community emphasizes conceptual model development through model verification, validation, uncertainty quantification, benchmarking and meta-analysis. Their approach includes many steps informally used by the structural geology community but in a much more explicit way. Newer geological applications of structural geology would benefit from this more rigorous approach for designing and doing performance predictions as technological needs become more socially sensitive such as for carbon storage sites, new areas of energy exploration in higher population density areas, or for nuclear waste storage facilities.

Density-functional theory investigation of oxidative corrosion of UO2

Corrosion and weathering of uranium dioxide (UO2) is a serious concern in a broad range of technological and environmental systems. Oxidation of UO2 can compromise the integrity of nuclear fuel rods, as well as result in the bioavailability of uranium in contaminated ground water at mines, mills, and nuclear waste storage facilities. How the oxidation proceeds, however, is not well understood. In this work, density-functional theory and ab initio thermodynamics are used to delineate the initial stages of surface and subsurface oxidation of UO2 at the (111) surface as a function of temperature and oxygen pressure. Initially, chemisorption of oxygen on the clean stoichiometric surface results in formation of highly stable triple-bonded uranyl groups and oxidation of the topmost uranium atoms to U6+ at a minimal p(O2) near 0K. Once the surface is saturated with uranyl groups and the oxygen chemical potential increases above −1.0eV, subsurface oxidation becomes thermodynamically favored. The degree of oxidation of the subsurface uranium atoms is determined by quantifying the transfer of electrons from the localized U 5f bands to those dominated by the delocalized O 2p bands as oxygen atoms occupy octahedral interstitial sites in the UO2 lattice. Occupation of the octahedral site nearest the surface results in an expansion of the lattice, whereas movement of the oxygen interstitial to deeper sites results in a net contraction.

A low-level environmental radiation monitor using optically stimulated luminescence from Al2O3:C: Tests using 226Ra and 232Th sources

Abstract This paper reports results from a high-sensitivity, remote gamma dosimetry system for subsurface monitoring of arbitrary environments (e.g. the immediate vicinity of nuclear waste storage facilities) that fills the gap between the complexity of active electronic detectors emplaced in soil, such as NaI scintillators and Ge semiconductors for gamma spectroscopy, and conventional, invasive removal of soil and water samples for off-site analysis. The portable system described herein is based on the pulsed optically stimulated luminescence of a carbon-doped aluminum oxide (Al 2 O 3 :C) single-crystal dosimeter, and was tested using two radionuclides relevant to environmental radiation monitoring, namely 226 Ra in liquid form and 232 Th. The system was calibrated against NIST-traceable sources, and the minimum detectable dose was found to be ∼3 μGy. Also, Monte Carlo calculations based on the 226 Ra experimental geometry showed close agreement (2%) with the measured dose value. We conclude that the system described has potential utility as a sensitive, low-level monitoring device suitable for in-situ measurements of environmental gamma radiation levels.

Microbiological induced corrosion of AA 6061 nuclear alloy in highly diluted media by Bacillus cereus RE 10

Microbiological studies of a spent nuclear fuel pool in Argentina were performed to evaluate the risk of microbiological induced corrosion and determine the cultivable bacterial population. Based on standard methods and sequencing of the 16sRNA gene, eighteen microorganisms were identified. Bacillus cereus RE 10 was the predominant organism isolated, and was selected to investigate the biofilm formation process and the corrosion effect on aluminum alloy AA 6061 and on pure aluminum (Al 99.999%). To simulate the environmental conditions, the experiments were performed using a highly diluted medium. After 20 days of exposure, major pits covered with deposits were found on AA 6061 samples exposed to B. cereus RE 10 but not on Al 99.999%. There was a close correlation between biofilm patches, corrosion deposits, pitting and Al–(Fe or Ti)–Si inclusions. We postulate that this correlation is a consequence of a light local alkalinization around the inclusions that produces changes in the expression pattern of B. cereus RE 10 and allows bacterial survival using other substrates. Under these conditions, the generated biofilm induces a crevice corrosion effect around the intermetallic inclusions of the alloy. Our results will be useful for further studies related to the microbial impact on nuclear safety in nuclear waste storage facilities in Argentina.

Panel urges centralized storage facility and permanent repository for nuclear waste

A recommendation has been made by the commission formed to advise the Obama administration on what to do with the spent nuclear fuel from the nation's commercial reactors: The ... A recommendation has been made by the commission formed to advise the Obama administration on what to do with the spent nuclear fuel from the nation's commercial reactors: The ...

Chemo-Mechanical Modeling Requirements for the Assessment of Concrete Structure Service Life

This paper deals with the formulation requirements for the finite-element modeling of the life cycle of concrete structures subjected to chemical evolution combined with mechanical loading. In particular, it considers the coupling of chemical evolution with nonlinear mechanical behavior combining creep and damage. Not only do the parameters of the mechanical model have to be adapted to the effect of chemical evolution, but also the chemical effects on the internal mechanical state variables of the chemical evolution have to be carefully considered. These two couplings are discussed and clarified in a general formulation useful for a finite-element implementation of a mechanical behavior law intended for chemo-mechanical applications. The approach is illustrated through a model developed to assess the mechanical behavior of concrete structures subjected to hydration and then to leaching during their service life. Hydration and leaching need to be considered together in the same model to study how damage of the concrete at its early age can affect its response in the long term. The model is implemented in a finite-element code and applied, first to the simulation of an early age creep test and then to the prediction of the very-long-term mechanical behavior of a nuclear waste storage facility.

Critical energy for direct initiation of spherical detonations in H 2/N 2O/Ar mixtures

Although the detonation phenomenon in hydrogen–nitrous oxide mixtures is a significant issue for nuclear waste storage facilities and development of propulsion materials, very limited amount of critical energy data for direct initiation – which provides a direct measure of detonability or sensitivity of an explosive mixture − is available in literature. In this study, the critical energies for direct blast initiation of spherical detonations in hydrogen–nitrous oxide–Ar mixtures obtained from laboratory experiments and theoretical predictions at different initial conditions (i.e., different initial pressure, equivalence ratio and amount of argon dilution) are reported. In the experiments, direct initiation is achieved via a spark discharge from a high voltage and low inductance capacitor and the initiation energy is estimated accordingly from the current output. Characteristic detonation cell sizes of hydrogen–nitrous oxide–Ar mixtures are estimated from chemical kinetics using a recently updated reaction mechanism. A correlation expression is developed as a function of initial pressure, argon dilution and equivalence ratio, which is fitted to provide good estimation of the experimental measured data. The direct link between cell size and critical energy for direct blast initiation is then analyzed. Good agreement is found between experimental results and theoretical predictions, which make use of the cell size estimation correlation and the semi-empirical surface energy model. The effects of the initial pressure, equivalence ratio and the amount of Ar dilution on the critical initiation energy H 2–N 2O–Ar mixtures are investigated. By comparing the critical energies with those of H 2–O 2–Ar mixtures, it is shown that H 2–N 2O mixtures are more detonation sensitive with smaller initiation energies than H 2–O 2 mixtures at the same initial pressure, equivalence ratio and amount of argon dilution, except for higher diluted condition with amount of argon in the mixture above 20%. Attempt is made to explain the critical energy variation and comparison between the two H 2–N 2O–Ar and H 2–O 2–Ar mixtures from the induction length analysis and detonation instability consideration.

Laboratory determination of direct shear strength of granitoid rocks; examples from the host rock of the nuclear waste storage facility of Bátaapáti (Hungary)

Abstract This paper provides test results and interpretation of the shear strength of granitic rocks. The samples were obtained from Bataapati (South Hungary), where the low and medium-activity nuclear waste storage facility of Hungary is under construction. The experiments were carried out under laboratory conditions by using direct shear strength tests of samples drilled and cut from larger granitic blocks. The friction angles of both the maximal and residual shear stress, as well as the cohesion, were detected for various joint systems and also for the cut surface of the granitic rock. The interpretation of test results includes the evaluation of normal stress versus shear strength for cut, moderately rough, rough and calcite-filled joints. The tests have demonstrated that the average internal angle of friction for granitic rocks exceeds 20°, with a maximum of 39° for rough surfaces. Calcite-filled joints have lower friction angles, in the range of 16–23°. The peak shear strength of granitic test speci...

End of the road for Yucca mountain

After almost 25 years in the planning and almost £90bn wasted, the United States has abandoned its plans for a high-level nuclear waste storage facility at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. There are four types of nuclear waste, ranging from the very low level waste that can be disposed of commercially to the high level waste primarily spent fuel, which is of the greatest concern. This announcement for a deep geological storage repository has only created an atmosphere of uncertainty. It seems that the US has seen the light and will look elsewhere for its long-term storage options.

Forbidden Bread: A Memoir by Erica Johnson Debeljak

I, awake in their feverish, obsessive 1 delirium. , As translator, Daniel Shapiro 1 faced many challenges, including I abrupt shifts in formal and col 1 loquial diction as well as archaic I uses of Spanish that sent him look , ing to Shakespeare for some of the ' solutions in English. It is likely I that even many Chileans would 1 welcome Shapiro's unobtrusive, I comprehensive notes to these allu 1 sive poems. This book, in short, I has everything the reader needs ] to enter a world illuminated by ? "a forty-watt sun / wrapped in , red cellophane." Ci pango is coming 1 soon to a city near you, unless you I live there already. 1 Steven F,White I St. Lawrence University MISCELLANEOUS John D'Agata. About a Mountain. New York. W.W. Norton. 2010. 236 pages. $23.95. ?sbn978-0-393-06818-4 About a Mountain is about much more than the title suggests. It is about Las Vegas, suicide, the now-discontinued Yucca Moun tain nuclear waste storage facil ity, Edvard Munch, human understanding, and at least a half dozen other things. This book length essay is an idiosyncratically arranged mosaic of information, narrative, and reflection that com bines these seemingly disparate topics in a new and interesting way. The book is structured accord ing to the six w's of reporting: who, what, when, where, why, and how?in that order, fol lowed by a threefold repetition of "why." It begins with a recount ing of the author's participation in Las Vegas's centennial parade, and moves through a tour of the proposed nuclear waste facility, interviews with various scientists and intellectuals, and ends with Munch's The Scream and the events leading up to Levi Presley's fatal leap from theStratosphere Hotel. Throughout the course of the essay, the reader is given a thor ough history of theuse and misuse of science surrounding the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste reposi tory, a concise overview of the politics surrounding its specifica tions, and a chilling sense of the danger inherent in the project. D'Aga ta also shows us an idio syncratic, accurate, and unflatter ing portrait of Las Vegas through the lens of the Stratosphere Hotel, the city's ubiquitous neon signs, and its rarely-spoken-of suicide problem. These two major themes are used as points of entry to an extended reflection on the nature of knowledge and the limits of human understanding. D'Agata's treatment of these big questions is particularly suc cessful because of his strong writ ingand successful stylisticgambits. He shows a reporter's attention to details and numbers while effec tively using them in the service of vivid narratives. His description of theWorst Case Credible Nuclear Transportation Accident is eerily reminiscent of the Toxic Airborne Event inDon DeLillo's White Noise, And, although his splicing togeth er of disparate subjects with no narrative bridging can be jarring, it is usually successful. It slows the reader down and forces him or her to think about the comparison being made. Despite the unusual structure, the work retains a cer tain broad narrative arc that reach es its climax somewhere between D'Aga tawatching Trading Spaces: JOHN D'AGATA Boston while manning a suicide hotline and Munch's walk through Ekeberg Forest in 1883. About a Mountain is ambi tious but readable and difficultbut rewarding. The essay convincingly concludes that Yucca Mountain is not "a solution or a problem" but "where we have come to?a place we have studied more thoroughly at this point than any other par cel of land in theworld" yet one that "remains unknown, revealing only the fragilityof our capacity to know." Chris Dearner University ofOklahoma Erica Johnson Debeljak. Forbidden = Bread: A Memoir. Berkeley, California. = North Atlantic (Random House, distr.). E 2009. 288 pages. $15.95. isbn 978-1-| 55643-740-3| Edmund Wilson called F. Scott = Fitzgerald's first novel "a romance E and a reading list." Forbidden Bread E is a romance and a cultural history E inwhich Erica Debeljak works her E way, simultaneously, into a mar- E riage and a new country newly E I May-June 2010 i77 m > m ci Z m Ci...