In the state of Washington, six tanks storing high level nuclear waste are leaking.
Now here is the story. In the early 1980's I interviewed for a job to be the Project Manager of Facility that was to take this waste, melt it into fused glass, and then encapsulate that glass in an exotic stainless steel canisters and then place it far underground in salt domes in Yucca Mountain, Neveda. Then I discovered they had been waiting for several years to pull some samples out of the tank to do material balances until they could find an absolutely safe way to pull the samples, and until they could get consensus their sampling method was full-proof.
Why? Because of irrational fear. The people of Nevada have fought the Yucca Mountain repository on the grounds that no one can guarantee that there will not be a spillage in the next 10,000 years. As I understand it, some waste has now been put in Carlsbad New Mexico. But, every step of the way environmentalists insist that it can not be safely stored and that there is no guarantee that it can be made safe forever.
Environmentalists point to the leaking tanks as evidence that radioactive waste can not be stored safely. Duh .... Engineers had a master plan, the tanks were only step 1. Environmentalists that say nuclear waste can't be stored safely have made a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Guess what? We can guarantee that hundreds of tanks in Washington will probably all start failing in the ten to twenty years (80 years into their 20 year life). Radioactive waste will find its way into the water table, the Columbia River and flow out to the local cities in the Tri-City Area.
And the environmentalists will be correct, "It's Best to Leave Radioactive Waste Where It Is Until You Have a Perfect Plan." NOT.
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