What I want to do when I grow up...

I mentioned before that I had a really interesting spring break this year as far as nuclear power goes.  You all know about Fukushima, but also during this time there were a series of public meetings being held in Pueblo, Colorado about building a nuclear power plant there.  This is where I grew up, and being in Pueblo over spring break, I naturally went to all the meetings. 

Going to these meetings as someone who has had some education in the nuclear industry was an interesting experience.  It was really interesting to hear about all the concerns people from the general public had about the nuclear power plant.  Some of the concerns were legitimate issues that needed to be tackled and some of them were issues that had no traction.  None the less, this was definitely a good experience when it comes to learning about what nuclear power faces when it comes to the public.  These issues were definitely exaggerated by the events simultaneously occurring in Fukushima, but it gave me a good understanding of how the public views nuclear power.

I don't really want to get into that now, but I want to talk about one key issue that was brought up.  The issue of transporting nuclear waste held a lot of traction with the local community.  People opposed to nuclear power brought in arguments that nuclear waste would be moved through their residential areas and near schools.  What if something happened?  Oh yes, the dreadful "what if?" the nuclear industry will face until the end of time.  Luckily in the transportation section, the nuclear industry has done a lot of thinking about "what if?" scenarios.

In fact, transportation of high level nuclear waste is one of the most engineered types of transportation out there.  This is both out of necessity as well as out of public outcry.  It is certain though that nuclear waste is special.  Unlike with other waste forms, we need to be careful of the geometries in which we move nuclear waste.  Under the right conditions, we could actually cause nuclear waste to start inducing a fission chain reaction, which would cause it to heat up.  So what is done about this?  Well, we know how to make the material go critical, and we know how to stop it from going critical.  Thus, we can design waste containers which keep nuclear waste from inducing fission reactions.

Most people are afraid of accidents happening on the road.  Nuclear waste is largely transported via truck in the United States.  It is true that sometimes trucks do have accidents.  Let me just say that the waste containers have been designed for this too.  Instead of me telling you though, let me just show you.  I recommend that you watch this whole video.  I got a really big kick out of it!

This is totally what I want to do when I grow up!  Sadly, I think they deemed these kinds of tests too dangerous back in the 1970s, so I never really had a chance.  But wrecking a rocket train!?  Every kids dream!

Anyway, I think this speaks for itself in saying what kind of damage that  nuclear waste transportation flasks can withstand.  If there was an accident on the road, you can remain confident that the radioactive material will be safely contained.  Take away point...I don't think that the transportation of nuclear waste is a good argument for halting nuclear power in the United States.