How long some things take to clean up
We've talked about how long it takes for petroleum based plastics to be destroyed in the ground.. some say 500 years.. some say longer. And of coarse, we won't be here to see that happen. But what struck me the other day was the full page ad in the Globe on Wednesday from the Pilgrim Nuclear power station on the south shore. The ad explains how companies, Holtec Decommissioning International will take ownership of the plant in June of this year when Pilgrim shuts down. Other companies include Comprehensive Decommissioning International and SNC-Lavalin anticipate completion of the majority of decommissioning by 2027. Under their plan, complete decommissioning would not be complete until 2080. The ad boasts that Holtec will decommission the plant decades earlier than standard industry practice.
On a side note.. The Union of Concerned Scientists who have for decades decried the use of nuclear power and now have changed their minds by saying nuclear power is better than all forms of fossil fuel generated power. https://www.ucsusa.org/nuclear-power/cost-nuclear-power/retirements#.XDeQSs17nyQ
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 1:24 PM
10 Comments
10 Comments:
So what happens in 2080 that makes it safe then or are they just telling us figuring none of us will be around in 61 year to see if they really do finish the job.
funny.. yeah who among us will ever know. My grandchildren's children will inherit this and who knows, maybe by then a new school or condo's will be built on top of the land.
What is going to replace the Pilgrim plant as a source of power for the region, anyone know?
Have any other nuclear plants been decommissioned? I know the Japan and the Russia ones had melt downs but not sure if I ever heard of any nuclear plant being decommissioned before
We should wrap the plant in plastic bags. They would protect it for 500 years
"We found that nearly 35 percent of the country’s nuclear power plants, representing 22 percent of US nuclear capacity, are at risk of early closure or slated to retire. To help avoid the worst consequences of climate change—and avoid costly over reliance on natural gas".
So it looks like natural gas plants will fill the void.
from the report.. it would appear that there are 5 scheduled to be shut down around the US.
I wouldn't doubt we have...or have made enough plastic bags to cover the whole place.
Didn't we build these things because they were "clean" so we could get away from less clean options? Is gas considered cleaner than nuclear?
we did.. it was cheaper to make supposedly. Gas is considered worse for the environment than nuclear because in part, of it's contribution in increasing our global temp.
There must be a fairly large group of employee's who will work at this place their entire career.
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