Mike Steketee opines that arguments in favor of nuclear waste storage in South Australia should not be so easily dismissed. There are valid economic and moral arguments made in the Royal Commission interim report.How about $5 billion a year over 30 years and $2 billion a year for the following 40 years? They are the figures mentioned in the tentative findings issued this week by South Australian Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission headed by former governor Kevin Scarce.
Many would respond that no amount of money would be worth it. But as well as the economic case outlined in the report, there is a moral argument, which goes like this. We have the world largest known uranium resources and are the world third largest producer (after Kazakhstan and Canada) of uranium for nuclear reactors. The waste from nuclear fuel from our uranium, together with that from other producers, is piling up around the world in temporary storage.
Sweden and Finland have sites under construction. Australia has some of the most stable geological formations in the world in outback South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The commission argues that a project taking 138,000 tonnes of used fuel and 390,000 cubic meters of intermediate waste would be highly profitable, with a possible 5% or $16.8 billion boost to gross state product by 2030 and an extra 9,600 jobs created directly and indirectly. It suggests a state wealth fund that spreads the benefit to future generations of South Australians could reach about $445 billion over more than 70 years.
An above-ground temporary storage facility covering an area of between 2.5 and 4 square kilometers would be needed to house metal or concrete casks containing spent fuel and intermediate waste. Permanent disposal would be in a series of tunnels that would house specially designed canisters containing used fuel and intermediate level waste. There would be multiple geological and engineering barriers..like Yucca Mt. in Nevada?
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