By Eve Wackett

The Buffalo State Physics Club, a United Students Government-sponsored organization invited Ram P. Chaturvedi professor of physics Cortland state college to speak at Buffalo State College March 13 about "Isolation of High-Level Radioactive Waste."

Dr. Chaturvedi lectured on "hot" locations around the country, including West Valley Demonstration Project (35 miles south of Buffalo), several types of nuclear reactors, suitable geological barriers, how nuclear waste is contained and then eventually shipped to a final resting place. (For detailed pictures of nuclear projects check out National Geographic article, July 2002)

“The problem of radioactive waste is tremendous,” Chaturverdi said. “There is so much public opposition, I don’t think it will ever be solved.”

“There are two main sources of radioactive waste to be disposed of and two separate places for each of them.” Chaturverdi said. “The first, high-level radioactive waste from production at defense facilities to be sent to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, N.M., and the second, Yucca Mountain, Nevada, the civilian radioactive waste storage site. Both have been approved by the EPA.”

The biggest problem with radioactive waste is no one wants it in his or her backyard- (NIMBY principle). Most of the nuclear reactors are located in the Northeast and spent nuclear fuel waste would have to be transported across the country to the proposed storage facilities.

The West Valley Demonstration Project, located about 35 miles south of Buffalo, is one of five DOE high-level radioactive waste storage sites waiting to ship waste across the country. The plant was shut down in 1972 because it could not keep up with upgrades and nuclear regulation requirements. A cleaning up process, called decommissioning has taken place at the plant.

BSC student Neil Armknecht worked at the West Valley plant when they loaded the last of the solid waste.

“The goal of the plant was to reduce the risks of the high-level liquid waste,” Armknecht said. “The solidification process has already taken place and the waste has been loaded, but since the September attacks they haven’t shipped it.”

After Sept. 11, concern over the safety of nuclear facilities increased. Nuclear experts met in Vienna, Austria March 11 - 13 to discuss strengthening security at power plants and other hot spots. Check the International Atomic Energy Agency for more info.

The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 mandated the development of deep geologic disposal for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste to isolate the material from the accessible environment. The federal mandate for containment and isolating such waste is 10,000 years. The citizens of Nevada are requesting ‘real world’ tests of casks used to ship and contain the material.

The Department of Energy (DOE) believes that placing the material an average of about 1,000 feet below the surface in a container surrounded by solid rock satisfies the intent of such isolation in relation to potential terrorist activity.

According to the DOE, to excavate to the repository level after closure would take a very large level of effort, with sophisticated excavation equipment, a large work force, and significant expenditure of funds – all unlikely without being highly visible to authorities and the public. Therefore, such activity would be unlikely. Even if terrorists were able to penetrate to repository depth, the spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste would be in waste packages weighing between 35 and 90 tons, each made of solid metal (stainless steel and Alloy-22), approximately 3 inches thick.