Radioactive waste -- an ongoing threat to the Great Lakes Basin

By Jesse D., Ima O., and James S.

Throughout our precious and sacred Great Lakes there are around 38 nuclear reactors at 16 commercial generating stations on 14 sites which were constructed and generated electricity in the Great Lakes region. These reactors provide about 30% of the electricity supply to areas around Michigan and are often commissioned for a range of 10 to 40 years. Though this has been the case historically, in recent years they have received extensions to their licenses, which puts them into "extended operating periods" of time past their original operating designs. This “extension” puts the stability of the plant at risk as metals become embrittled from heat exhaustion and degradation. Unfortunately, these facilities are on the same site as the radioactive waste that they produce, which is stored in a pond-like facility that too has a designed lifespan. (Here’s more info on an example of this at Pallisades on Lake Michigan.)

Using uranium as fuel for these facilities to convert into electricity that powers the region is a dirty carbon intensive process that begins in the homelands of Indigenous peoples and goes through several different stages in several different locations to get this fuel. After the process of fusion, the resulting radioactive waste is managed through storing the waste until it is no longer hot. In some cases it is so hot it would take 100 years for it to cool enough to even transport and or safely store! These methods include near surface disposal and deep geological disposal which include spent fuel pools, dry cask storage, near surface caverns, and mined repositories. While there are many ideas for how the highly radioactive waste is to be stored, the amount of time it will take for it to breakdown far outlast these ideas. Society can no longer afford to pile up the radioactive waste and we only dig a hole deeper if we continue to produce this poison. Until renewable sources of energy are given the freedom to flourish and attention on growth that is needed to catch up with the generating capacities we need in the decades that we may not have, the United States and other countries continue to use this dirty radioactive source of energy. This means that there is a steady accumulation of High Level Radioactive Waste (HLRW) near to reactors such as on the shores of the Great Lakes.

An article in the Detroit Free Press from October 2018 references more than 60,000 tons of nuclear waste that sits on the shores of the Great Lakes and is steadily building. This storage of nuclear radioactive material should be considered a ticking time bomb for a few reasons:

1.  If the waste that sits on the edges of the Great Lakes contaminates these bodies of water there will be dangerous repercussions for tens of millions of people.

2. There is no way to safely store high-level radioactive waste for the eons it takes for it to breakdown

3. The communities set to bear any burden of radioactive waste storage should have the final say on how/if this happens

We should move quickly to completely distributed renewable energy alongside battery storage for many reasons. But since nuclear energy is continually used and subsidized, monopoly energy utilities are given leeway to literally write industry rules. The nuclear energy and weapons industry has been a dominant voice in the Department of Energy (DOE), draining trillions of dollars in nuclear technology research away from these safer, cleaner, cheaper means of energy production. This has led us almost 100 years into the production of radioactive waste and left us back at square one as far as how to safely store it for the 200,000 years needed for it to begin to safely break down. This leaves us and future worlds societies with the most vital task of safeguarding this radioactive material. The most preferred storage option for many is burial in a deep geological repository where there is low chance of exposure or unintended access due to natural disasters or terrorism. This method still requires access and monitoring of the containers for that range of time and this requirement has not been found to be met as of yet. There is also the issue of the Treaties between First Nations of Turtle Island and their inherent rights as holders of those treaties. This includes that of the Western Shoshone and the proposed high level waste dump at Yucca Mountain, a sacred spot for the shoshone and well within the treaty rights of protection. This all points to an absence of any long term plan that is just and safe. BeyondNuclear references principles agreed upon by scientists and citizen advocate groups like us, we are signed on to these.

One paragraph of interest from the previously mentioned Detroit Free Press article says:

“Spent nuclear fuel is so dangerous that, a decade removed from a nuclear reactor, its radioactivity would still be 20 times the level that would kill a person exposed to it. Some radioactive byproducts of nuclear power generation remain a health or environmental hazard for tens of thousands of years. And even typically harmless radioactive isotopes that are easily blocked by skin or clothing can become extremely toxic if even small amounts are breathed in, eaten or drank,  making their potential contamination of the Great Lakes — the drinking water supply to 40 million people — the connected Mississippi River and the prime agricultural areas of the U.S. a potentially frightening prospect.”

If ever a case for renewable energy technology and the direct need for attention on the distribution and development of it as well , this above paragraph alone is a worthy one. Not only do renewables show up cleaner and cheaper with less impacts along its lifecycle, but the green jobs available with this path are far greater. Some sources state upwards of 20 million new and sustainable jobs to be created with 100% Wind, Water, and Solar Roadmap development. Currently renewables are the source of almost 10% of Michigan’s energy profile and with updated renewable energy standards we can add much more to that percentage. Wind, hydroelectric, tidal/wave, solar, and geothermal power have all made technological strides in the past few decades, so our energy profile should better reflect this. Additional placement of renewable resources in key places in communities gives them the ability to produce the energy that supports their communities. The options are endless and the path is before us so why are we not hopping on this now?

“The nuclear industry would have you believe that humankind is smart enough to develop techniques to store nuclear waste for a quarter million years, but at the same time (say) humankind is so dumb we can’t figure out a way to store solar electricity overnight.” - Arnie Gunderson, Nuclear engineer.

This brings us to the Fermi 2 reactor, here in Monroe, Michigan and our issues that are ongoing with not only the fatally flawed design but also the fatally unflawed capitalist greed and methodology of its owner and monopoly utility Detroit edison. The Mark 1 design of the Fermi 2 facility is the same as the fatal Fukushima meltdown that happened on march 11th 2011. A day that Citizens Resistance at fermi two will observe with an event of education speakers and arts. To find out more or register follow this link. As far as Detroit Edison goes, the nuclear regulatory commission has filed countless violations against them and petitions to close Fermi 2 go all the way back to the time before it was ever on line. Together our CRAFT community works tirelessly to make the different future by building it and holding the industry and utility accountable and you can too!

Wado!