[cdn-nucl-l] Letter to the editor of the Toronto Star re: fusion and ITER

["Adam McLean" <adam.mclean@utoronto.ca>]

Hi All!

Here is a letter I wrote to the Toronto Star about the weekend article
on ITER and Fusion by Cameron Smith, environmental reporter... It's
already sent but comments are welcome (other than it's too long... I
know.  I can't seem to help it... :))

Adam

P.S. No reply at all from my challenge to David Martin to explain his
'calculation' yet... I'm still waiting patiently :)

-------------------

RE: "A problem fusion technology can't fix" says the Toronto Star

The so called calculation quoted by Mr. David Martin of the Sierra Club
in the August 31 article "A Problem Technology Can't Fix" regarding the
waste produced by the ITER fusion research reactor is in no way correct
and highly misleading.  The Darlington Nuclear Station consumes
approximately 250 tonnes (about 80 cubic metres) of uranium fuel per
year in the form of CANDU fuel bundles.  Over 20 years of operation,
this will total 5,000 tonnes of High Level Waste (HLW), eventually
requiring recycling or underground burial for approximately 500 years
before it is safe to handle.  When it is decommissioned, Ontario Power
Generation, the owner and operator of Darlington, has estimated the
radioactive waste for the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to
be 34,000 cubic metres (about 65,000 tonnes) of Low Level Waste (LLW)
and Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) which can be safely stored concrete
containers above ground or in a shallow land burial, typically for
50-200 years (1).  

As the article states, a fusion reactor produces no HLW as spent fuel,
only non-radioactive Helium gas, common in the atmosphere and not a
Greenhouse Gas (GHG).  The freely available design document for the
fusion research reactor ITER (2) states that LLW and ILW from
replacement parts over the lifetime of the reactor will total
approximately 180 cubic metres or 750 tonnes which will be stored on the
site of the facility.  Additionally, approximately 7,500 cubic metres or
30,000 tonnes of material will be left at the time of decommissioning
(in the year 2030).  After 100 years of storage, all but 6,000 tonnes of
this total will have levels of radiation comparable to soil in the
ground and be safe to recycle for other construction projects.  Clearly
these figures are in fact much less than that of Darlington which itself
has well studied and internationally recognized plans for safe disposal,
no where near the figure of 1,000 times the amount produced by
Darlington during it's lifetime as 'calculated' by the Sierra Club.
Printing such a statement in the media clearly demonstrates a severe
lack of scientific accountability and I would urge readers to learn more
about ITER and fusion themselves to better understand just how much
fusion will be able to bring safe, clean and abundant to the entire
world (3).

Fusion uses common fuels inherent and abundant to all nations, presents
no risk for nuclear proliferation or as a terrorist target, presents no
vulnerability to nuclear accidents, produces zero high level radioactive
waste, and the low level waste it does produce has been proven to be
very safely handled and stored, it has zero greenhouse gas and other
atmospheric pollutant emissions, has minimal land use requirements, and
is not subject to daily, seasonal or regional weather variations with no
need for expensive energy storage or long distance transmission methods.
Fusion is indeed likely still 50 years away from commercial use but we
cannot use that as an excuse to ignore the potential it has to
positively impact a legacy of burning fossil fuels that we have thus far
brought to our planet, and bring about a clean, safe world that we hope
to envision for future generations.

Sincerely,

Adam McLean
MASc. Candidate, Fusion Energy and Plasma Physics
University of Toronto, Institute for Aerospace Studies
adam.mclean@utoronto.ca
 
1. Managing Ontario Power Generation's Nuclear Waste Safely and
Responsibly, August, 2000: www.opg.com/info/safety_files/NWM2000.pdf.
2. ITER Design Basis Document, November 2001:
www.iter.org/ITERPublic/ITER/reports.html
3. See ITER Canada: www.itercanada.com, Fusion Research in Canada:
www.cns-snc.ca/branches/Toronto/fusion.