The Future of Nuclear Waste

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosemary Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Oral Transmission ◽  
The Future ◽  
Archaeological Models ◽  
Waste Repositories ◽  
Modern Artists

How can sites of waste disposal be marked to prevent contamination in the future? The United States government addressed this challenge in planning for nuclear waste repositories. Consulting with experts in imagining future scenarios, in language and communication, and in anthropology, the Department of Energy sought to develop plans that would satisfy demands from the Environmental Protection Agency for a marker system that would be effective long into the future. Expert consultants proposed two very different designs: one based on archaeological sites recognized as cultural heritage monuments; the other proposing that certain forms invoke universal feelings. The Department of Energy opted for a design based on archaeological ruins, cited as proof human-made markers could last and communicate warnings for thousands of years. This book explores the common-sense assumptions the experts made about their archaeological models and shows how they are contradicted by what archaeologists understand about these places and things. The book alternates between discussions of archaeological marker designs and reflections on the alternative proposal based on archetypes intended to arouse universal responses. Recognizing these archetype designs as similar in scale and form to Land Art projects, it compares the way government experts proposed that their designs would work with views of modern artists and critics. Drawing on views of indigenous people who disproportionately are asked to accommodate such projects, the book explores concessions within the project that only oral transmission is likely to ensure that such sites remain identifiable long into the future.

Introduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Rosemary A. Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
The United States ◽  
Nuclear Waste Repository ◽  
Alternative Futures ◽  
Us Government ◽  
Marker Design ◽  
Waste Repositories

Providing an introduction to the planning process for the Waste Isolation Pilot Project and the marker design that continues to be the basis of nuclear waste repository proposals in the United States, including for Yucca Mountain, this chapter lays the groundwork for consideration of the contradictions between opinions produced through expert consultation and the expertise of archaeologists. US government efforts described enlisted a variety of “experts” to propose alternative futures, identify models for communication over long spans of time, and assess the likely durability of proposed designs for a marker over nuclear waste repositories. To understand these expert reports, this chapter introduces the concept of an anthropology of common sense as a way to understand how government experts understood the archaeological sites that they offered as models.

Brownfields

Geography ◽  
2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher De Sousa ◽  
Thierry Spiess
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Land Resource ◽  
Hazardous Substance ◽  
Industrial Chemicals ◽  
Real Property ◽  
Site Assessment ◽  
Industrial Facilities

Brownfields are defined by the United States government as “real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant” (Environmental Protection Agency website). While they are most often associated with derelict industrial facilities, brownfields can include an array of other properties with a likelihood of contamination, such as landfills, vehicle repair shops, gas stations, and dry cleaners. Prior to the focus on brownfield redevelopment, the original emphasis was on the remediation of land contaminated by pollution disasters and industrial chemicals. While this perspective forced governments to better understand the risks posed by contaminants and develop procedures for effective cleanup, it discouraged private investment by developers and financiers because of the potential risks and costs associated with redevelopment. Industrialized cities were, therefore, left with extensive tracts of idle and stigmatized property, while developers chose to build and residents chose to live in suburban greenfields. The brownfield literature expanded rapidly in the early 1990s as researchers sought to better understand the issue, its scale, and the key barriers to redevelopment (e.g., site assessment and cleanup, legal liability, funding). As the ability to manage risks and costs improved, researchers started to focus on other potential end uses for these properties and shift the perception of these sites from hazardous liabilities to land resource opportunities. Brownfields research continues to expand internationally and focuses more on strategic ways to manage sites in a smart and sustainable manner.

The Rate of Time Preference in the United States Government

2007 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 8-15
Author(s):  
Peter Temin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Discount Rate ◽  
Time Preference ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
United States Government ◽  
States Government ◽  
The Future

I use Samuelson's Nonsubstitution Theorem (1961) to argue that government policies in the United States traditionally reflected a low discount rate. The government's discount rate appears to have risen sharply in the last generation, showing the usefulness of Samuelson's theorem and the difficulties facing the United States in the future.

U.S. Nuclear Defense Waste Program Current Development and Key Research Areas

1985 ◽  
Vol 50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ray D. Walton ◽  
Kenneth A. Chacey
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
The United States ◽  
Management Program ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Current Development ◽  
Research Areas ◽  
Develop Technology ◽  
Over 40 Years ◽  
Term Management

AbstractThe United States has been engaged in defense nuclear activities for over 40 years. The primary goal of the Defense Waste and Byproducts Management Program is to develop technology which ensures the safe, permanent disposal of all defense nuclear waste. Programs are in place at each U.S. Department of Energy site which address long-term strategy for permanent disposal of waste generated as a result of defense operations. Technology is developed for assessing the hazards, environmental impact, and cost of each long-term disposition alternative for selection and implementation. This paper addresses the key research areas and major facilities associated with the long-term management of defense nuclear waste.

scholarly journals Reservoir Response to Heat Generating Nuclear Waste Disposal in Bedded Salt

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Jayne ◽  
Kristopher Kuhlman
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nuclear Waste ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Coupled Processes ◽  
Rock Properties ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Self Healing ◽  
Glass Waste ◽  
Nuclear Waste Storage

<p> <span>The disposal of heat generating nuclear waste is increasingly becoming a concern for several countries worldwide. This issue is of particular concern for the United States because of the 364,000 m</span><sup><span>3</span></sup><span> of heat-generating nuclear waste currently in temporary storage. Numerous concepts for the disposal of heat generating nuclear waste have been investigated internationally, such as, mined repositories in crystalline, argillite, and salt formations, and deep borehole disposal. Currently, salt formations are being investigated as candidate disposal host rocks for heat-generating nuclear waste in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Salt formations may be an ideal host media due to salt’s extremely low permeability, high thermal conductivity, and self-healing capability. Salt lacks circulating groundwater, but it is not dry. Brine availability in salt has multiple implications for the safety and design of a nuclear waste storage facility. Brine transport is a potential off-site radionuclide transport vector, brine leads to corrosion of metallic and glass waste forms and waste packages, chloride in brine can reduce criticality concerns, and accumulated brine can provide back-pressure that resists long-term creep closure of porosity associated with mining the repository. In order to improve understanding of brine migration in heated salt, borehole heater experiments are being conducted at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. The salt heater test collaboration aims to collect data to gain a better understanding of brine availability, transport, and thermal evolution of salt in response to heating up to 140 °C. Due to the complex nature and coupled processes that take place within bedded salt, this study will utilize 1D, 2D, and 3D numerical simulations of the salt heater test to deconvolve the parametric controls on brine availability and migration. The purpose of this study is two-fold, in addition to understanding the hydrogeology of salt formations, we utilize two different subsurface flow codes in a code comparison study, TOUGH and PFLOTRAN. Preliminary results from this study illustrate the importance of understanding the host rock properties and the initial/boundary conditions of the salt and multiphase fluid flow near the excavation site.</span></p><p> </p><p><em>Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory managed and operated by National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA0003525.</em></p>

The Integration of Tribal Traditional Lifeways into Epa's Decision Making

2005 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Cirone
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Environmental Protection Agency ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Government ◽  
Executive Order ◽  
Federal Policies ◽  
Unfunded Mandates ◽  
States Government ◽  
Tribal Governments ◽  
Indian Tribes

On November 6, 2000, the President of the United States of America issued Executive Order 13175 requiring consultation and coordination with Indian Tribal governments in the "development of Federal policies that have tribal implications, to strengthen the United States government-to-government relationships with Indian tribes, and to reduce the imposition of unfunded mandates upon Indian tribes." Within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) consultation has taken many forms. One way of fostering a strong working relationship between tribes and EPA has been through EPA-Tribal Councils.

Cryopreservation of human spermatozoa. IV. The effects of cooling rate and warming rate on the maintenance of motility, plasma membrane integrity, and mitochondrial function**Supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland (R01-HD25949 and K04-HD00980); Parke-Davis; Methodist Hospital; and by the Office of Health and Environmental Research, United States Department of Energy, Washington, D.C., under contract DE-AC05-840R21400 with Martin Marietta Energy Systems.††Presented in part at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Andrology, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 13 to 16, 1989, and at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Andrology, Tampa, Florida, April 17 to 19, 1993.‡‡The submitted manuscript has been authored by a contractor of the United States Government under contract DE-AC05-840R21400. Accordingly, the United States Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.

1993 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 911-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike A. Henry ◽  
Esther E. Noiles ◽  
Dayong Gao ◽  
Peter Mazur ◽  
John K. Critser
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Annual Meeting ◽  
Membrane Integrity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
United States Government ◽  
United States Department ◽  
States Government ◽  
American Society
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