2009 06 13       

(More recent note:  2010 05 11

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/science/11nuclear.html?th&emc=th )

 

North America Demand and Repository

 

Kentucky Opportunity   (requiring further study)

In the map of North America, the line 100° west of the Prime Meridian spans from latitude 25° north to 50°.  It divides the US into Western and Eastern, across the sparsely populated plains.    The orange circle around the bridge at Cincinnati has radius 800 miles.  The projection is CONUS Equidistant Conic, centered at the Brent Spence Bridge.

Each yellow dot represents 1000 people within a locality, against a dark background for contrast.  The transparency of this dark glass over each state is inversely proportional to its population.  The Metropolitan Statistical Areas are colored more deeply as population increases (US red, Canada green).    An 800 mile radius around no other US city includes more people!  60% of the N.Am. pop!

This map represents where people live; and where people live is where energy is needed.

According the NIMBY principle, where people do not live is the popular choice for unwanted waste and other objections to healthy living.

2008 12 09 Report by US Sec Energy is the call for a Second Repository for the Nation's spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste:

 

The report was submitted in accordance with section 161 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended (NWPA). Section 161 requires the Secretary to report to the President and to Congress on or after January 1, 2007, but not later than January 1, 2010, on the need for a second repository for the Nation’s spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).

The NWPA establishes a process for the siting, construction and operation of one or more national repositories for permanent disposal of the Nation’s SNF and HLW. In 1987, after the Department of Energy (DOE) had conducted studies of nine potential repository sites located throughout the United States, Congress amended the NWPA and selected the Yucca Mountain site in Nye County, Nevada as the only site for further study for the first national repository. In 1987, Congress also terminated all second repository program activities.

It is time to re-consider the 1987 conclusion.  (see above more recent note 2010 05 11)  If most of the demand for energy is in Eastern North America, it seems prudent to find a site within that region to minimize travel to the required Repository.  Thus, Kentucky has an opportunity to serve the Nation by the bold initiative to host the Second Repository in conjunction with innovation of nuclear-coal cogeneration.

The Kentucky Geological Survey is well-equipped to lead the nation in utilizing our knowledge of the underground in support of its use:

1.  extracting energy

2.  supporting nuclear-coal cogeneration

3.  sequestering carbon

4.  providing the repository for nuclear waste

from an unparalleled vantage point central to the most populous region of North America, within a smaller region of sparse population.  The attendant requirement to minimize the impact upon those precious lives within said sparse region is presumably a challenge that can be accomplished.

Further Inquiry