Rad Waste Is Forever

At least two of the single shell tanks storing radioactive liquid waste at the Hanford Site are leaking:

https://www.king5.com/article/news/local/hanford/state-feds-hanford-nuclear-waste-tank-continue-leaking/281-eb53fceb-e987-4f5d-8b99-4686fe79098a

As far as I can tell, the US has no credible plan for the long term management of our nuclear waste. Until we do, it would be the height of folly to build MORE nuclear reactors.

And if the clowns who want us to build more nukes (e.g., Bill Gates) either do not know or are ignoring this, then I suggest we stop listening to them.

By the way, there is real danger at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, regardless of who is doing the shelling or why.

All nuclear power plants are susceptible to an accident known as total loss of power. The fuel in the reactor(s) and spent fuel storage pools must be kept cool via the removal of heat from the decay of fission products. The ability to cool them is dependent on both onsite and offsite power sources.

If both types of sources are interrupted, and especially if cooling systems are damaged (by earthquake, artillery strikes, etc.), then a meltdown of some magnitude may be inevitable. That is what happened at Fukushima, and given the circumstances it's quite possible at Zaporizhzhia.

For this reason, all six reactors should be shutdown and cooled down as far as possible, as soon as possible, AND kept in that state until the war is over. And I mean REALLY over.

If that means no power to Ukraine, then so be it. If the world wants to argue about who is to blame, go ahead. But we shouldn't really care, since the only thing which matters right now is to prevent a disaster.

Update - 8/28/2022

Ukes have cut all offsite power supplies to the plant:

https://sputniknews.com/20220826/kiev-cuts-last-power-line-to-zaporozhye-npp-no-way-to-deliver-electricity-to-ukraine--authorities-1100015477.html

Stop focusing on Ukraine's power supply, since they are the ones who cut the lines. The true significance is that a sitewide loss of power accident is now much more likely. And this appears to be intentional.

Update - 8/31/2022

What I said:

https://www.rt.com/news/561790-reactor-power-plant-shutdown/

The sooner the better. It takes a while to dissipate the residual and decay heat.

By the way, the Ukes apparently have the same problem we do - they store spent fuel on site instead of in a geological repository. A bad idea all around.