NEWS: Nuclear Waste poised to contaminate Colorado River

A massive pile of nuclear waste sits in a floodplain just 750ft from a sharp bend in the Colorado River near Moab, Utah. The mountains in the area are saturated with way above average levels of wet snow that's beginning to melt. There could be enough water stored in those mountains to flood the Colorado River into that bend above the floodplain, breach the retaining wall, inundate the waste pile, and contaminate the water supply of 25 million people. The spring snow melt this year in Utah just may create enough runoff to cause a disaster in the South West.




I sincerely hope that the US and Utah governments are on top of this situation. They should be preparing a contingency plan that includes channelling, buttressing, containment, and safe disposal for this dangerous site. Either that, or 25 million people's tap water may start glowing in the dark.

Related News Links:
www.eh.doe.gov
www.srh.noaa.gov
www.ag.state.ut.us
www.nap.edu

Related AboveTopSecret.com Discussion Threads:
Toxic pile at risk of spring snow melt?

[edit on 22-4-2005 by Icarus Rising]

[edit on 22-4-2005 by Icarus Rising]

As long as people resist Yucca, this will continue to be a problem. THese kinds of events are going to increase, and before long, there's going to be a few major accidents.

There is no plan to deal with the waste nation wide. There is no alternative to Yucca mountain. There is very little willingness to address this topic in the political circles. Right now waste is often stored in the plants that the waste was made, in facilities that were not built for long term holding, and in facilities that are literally filling up.

The US needs to develop a nationwide plan, and it needs to be Yucca mountain. The waste can't be stored outside the continental US, becuase its bad enough that its going to have to be shipped, by trains from the plants to Yucca, let alone having to ship it to multiple ports all across the coasts and loading into ships, moving to some other location and then off loading and storing.

www.ocrwm.doe.gov...
wrgis.wr.usgs.gov...

I agree. Nevada's NIMBY attitude to the Yucca facility will be the death of us all!

I like the story, but before I vote yes that intro has to be rewritten. Comments and questions are suposed to be left for the final author comments section.

Yucca mountain is better option, but there is no good option with nuclear waste...
not ONE of us... not a single one of us can afford to pay the price of a mistake when it comes to NUKE power...

Yucca mountain was recently exposed as a siesmic hazard... having the waste soak into the desert floor might not be as bad as the colorado river scare, but it is all bad...

Nukes might be safer than coal, or oil, but with those, one mistake wont kill millions of people... so it is a false security...

dont play the game if you cant pay the price... and the nuke price is cheap when things are good. when things get bad... there isn't a checkbook in the world big enough.

Damn, I just saw Mathew McConehy solve that problem in the theatre last week, but it was the Niger River in The movie Sahara. Same problem, same corrupt style of government.

*lives on the Colorado River* ....Seriously the river is really poluted already, we don't need more crap in it.

The question buzzing around in my head is why on earth is nuclear waste stored near a river in the first place, it sounds about as smart as keeping an open bottle of rat poision on a shelf above your kitchen countertop...a disaster waiting to happen. Whomever made the decision to stash the crap there needs a nice swift kick to the head for not employing said device before making such a stupid decision.

All the the coments everyone has made so far in indeed valid. I just want to note that although the yuca mountian site has been oposed with endless vigor every mm of the way, it probably is the best site found thus far. But even if yuca was filled to capacity, it is only going to hold a small % of the waste that has to have something done with it.
I agree some standard plan has to be created and carried out to deal with the waste. I just dont pretend to have a better plan then Yucka Mountian