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From: ken@argus.UUCP (Kenneth Ng)
Newsgroups: net.sci
Subject: Re: About the life of nuclear wastes
Message-ID: <442@argus.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 9-Aug-86 11:15:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: argus.442
Posted: Sat Aug  9 11:15:25 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 11-Aug-86 04:03:35 EDT
References: <1970@brl-smoke.ARPA> <320@rtech.UUCP> <2064@brl-smoke.ARPA> <479@meccts.UUCP>
Organization: NJ Inst of Tech., Newark NJ
Lines: 44

In article <479@meccts.UUCP>, mvs@meccts.UUCP (Michael V. Stein) writes:
> 
> To prevent radionuclides from getting into the groundwater, all
> disposal plans call for the wastes to be stored in glass or ceramics
> so it not neither chemically active or water soluble.  Then the
> repository is located away from all ground water.   (This is why you
> often hear about the use of salt mines.)

Almost but not quite right.  In order to lower the odds of the
site becoming a future salt mine, you want a salt bed that does
NOT have a plentiful source of fresh water available.  Salt mines
are usually found where there is both a salt bed and a large source
of fresh water (to mine the salt of course).

> Geologic disposal has emerged as the preferred waste disposal system
> in each of the major nuclear countries.  The West German program
> emphasizes disposal in salt, as does the Netherlands.  Sweden, the
> United Kingdom, France and Canada are concentrating on crystalline
> rocks, such as granite and basalt.  Italy and Belgium are
> investigating clays, mudstone and shales.  

Check out Sweden, they have a VERY expensive radioactive waste
container.  But it is probably the most indestructable of all the
container schemes.
> Michael V. Stein
> Minnesota Educational Computing Corporation - Technical Services
> 
> UUCP	ihnp4!dicome!meccts!mvs
Not you again!   (:->


-- 
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