Where is nuclear waste currently stored in the United States?
814109
The Department of Energy is storing a great deal of it in water bathes at the Nuclear Research Facility in Idaho.\n\nThey U.S. Navy used to have three proto type reactors operating there; S1W, A1W and S5G.  It was included as part of the Nuclear Training program until each site was shut down and replaced with other facilities...\n\nI was trained at A1W myself back in 1993...\n\nTo this day, the Department of Energy is the largest single source of employment in the Idaho Falls, Arco area...  Arco has the honored history of being the first U.S. city powered by Nuclear Power\n\nThere are other facilities in Nevada and Arizona, but I do not have personal knowledge of those locations.
448966
Depleted Uranium, or U-238, has a half life of 4.5 billion years before decaying to Thorium.
1033190
Berlin, February 24th, 2004. An entire "island" composed of trash has been discovered in the Pacific Ocean. It is as large as the Central Europe.\n\nAccording to the German magazine "Geo", plastic objects prevail among the trash. The "island" weights approximately three million tons in its entirety. This is six times greater than a number of natural plankton.\n\nScientists claim that the "island", situated between California and Hawaiian islands, forms circular ocean currents which now accumulate wastes by the shores of Japan and the US and bring it to the center of the Ocean.
395247
This is really impossible to say, being both a science and political question.\n\nReactors need to be close enough to the energy grid and populations that the energy lost in transmission is minimal.  On the other hand, far from populations to limit the ramifications of a meltdown.\n\nTransporting waste is risky itself.  So easy safe access to storage sites is important.  On the other hand, risk of contaminated water and people stumbling on it would have it far away.  Not to mention the possible ecological side-effects to local fauna.\n\nThere's no best answer in a real world, just some less awful ones.
828967
A piece of uranium or plutonium is put in water, and then the water begins to boil releasing a large ammount of of energy. That energy is collected. What`s left over from this reaction is known as nuclear waste.
162172
ITS EVERY COUNTRIES RIGHT TO NUCLEAR ENERGY. What you think oil lasts forever? It is predicted that oil will run out in 15 years!
1072384
USA used nukes in Japan cities and chemical weapons in Vietnam, also US using a lot of "depleted uranium" and "Phosphoric" bombs in Afghanistan and Iraq, JUST FOR PEACEFUL PURPOSES, INCLUDING HUMAN-RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY ISSUES, etc...!!!!
78606
the place where you last put it
775908
Where's it's economically viable to recycle we should, when not, we should reuse, and if that doesn't work, then start with new.  \n\nWe are NOT running out of landfill space, we are SO far away from that it isn't even funny.  We could build a single land fill 24 miles wide and it'd be enough to throw everything away for the next 5000 years, and we could use the methane to power Las Vegas.  \n\nRecycling paper to save trees is like recycling tortillas to save corn.  They aren't chopping down 500 year old red woods so you can read a news paper.
298351
you are referring to "Chernobyl" which is a place in the Ukraine where there was a nuclear meltdown more than 10 years ago.
452240
(m)\n\nBarium is so reactive it is stored under oil.\n\nstrontium is typically stored under kerosene.
302101
Yes, of course there is such a location. It is a US military flight test facility in the middle of the Nevada desert. I seriously doubt it has the so called alien space ships in storage as rumored for the past 60 years. However, it does have very high technology aircraft, engines, and space related electronic and aviation equipment within its confines. Unlike most US military facilities, it is not open to the public and what occurs there is in most cases information that is classified in accordance with the National Security Act of 1950. It is this aura of secrecy that keeps the science fiction writers and rumors flying concerning what is there and what happens there. The base was built in its location to make access and observation of operations more difficult, since the majority of the equipment and operations are classified to protect the national security of the USA. Hopefully, this answers your question.
749534
Currently according to the National Academy of Science in Washington DC, the U.S. uses up about 25% of the worlds energy recourse's, yet is responsible for 35% of the world's greenhouse gases due to a larger animal crop then most countries (cows make lots of methane) As for the nuclear test, the U.S. no longer does them. The U.S. is not concerned about the environmental effects of North Korean Nuclear tests as it is about the weapons getting into the hands of terrorist. The government of North Korea is not a very stable government, run by a dictator, and the U.S. is afraid that they may use the weapon as a way to hurt South Korea, Japan, China, or other Asian countries. At this point, they are not afraid of North Korea hurting the U.S. which is why they are trying to talk to North Korea not using a military solution. (which most likely would not work anyway without China's support). \nYes America is the biggest producer of greenhouse gases, and President Bush did back out of the Kimono agreement, but hopefully soon we will elect someone with more concern about the environment.
627720
Boy, I wish that was practical!  If rocketing radioactive waste into the sun was cost effective, we'd have bases on Mars by now and an active space tourism business!\n Unfortunately, the radioactive elements that make up much of the dangerous waste are some of the heaviest (densest) known.  Ever picked up something made of solid steel?  The same thing made of uranium would weigh 2 1/2 times as much!\n In 2000, the cost to send 1 pound of anything to space varied from about $5000 (Chinese Long March Rocket) to $23,000 (Shuttle).  If you figure an average of $10,000 per pound, (ignoring LEO versus escape to the sun costs) then to send the 77,000 tons of waste that are programmed for underground storage at Yucca Mountain would cost one and a half TRILLION dollars!  Compare that to $58 billion to bury it.
526111
Yes, one it is enriched and now radioactive because an atom has been split. I don't know the science. Two people still need to go in and get more uranium. There is a plan to bury it all in an abandoned mine, of limestone I believe to limit the leakage. The problem with burying it all in one place and setting up a perimmiter in this dead zone is that a) it will still spread/ leak. b) shipping stuff from all over the US to one place in the southwest is very risky. Now it is all required to stay on site at each nuclear plant in the special barrels. The plan for transport is very thourough but still not a pleasing idea. If a truck crashes/ terrorist/ whatever goes wrong you will severly contaminate a large area, 50 mile radius or more. \n\nWould you like to know the plan for shipment? Well here it is. First we've got super buckets to carry it in. Big red plastic looking capsules. We ran them over with a train. Didn't break. Was funny to see a huge red thing fly through the air though. Geographers used computer mapping to find routes that were the quickest but also went through the least populated areas. The final decision was based mainly on the least population and it doesn't travel through major cities. Many objected about going through suburban areas but in some cases there just wasn't enough farm land to pass through without having to make such a detour that it would take a long time and effect more population. The highways and streets it must pass through will be closed to traffic and the trucks will be escorted by military. If your local highway is closed for somereason chances are it's passing through your neighborhood.
231193
Where in the united states are you living?
36355
first of all, it isn't necessarily 100,000 years.  the radioactive waste is made up of radioactive elements.  the only way to measure the wasting of the radioactivity of a material is by half-life, or the time it takes for half of the waste to lose its radioactivity.  essencially, the waste will always be active, but eventually the amount that it is giving off decreases to an amount that doesn't affect humans.  weather it's 100,000 or 1000000 years depends on the material and how much of it.\n\nthe waste will always be there, but nuclear waste is really just radioactive atoms of elements like plutonium, uranium, etc.  it won't disappear, but it will eventually become harmless.