UCC looks to dispose of 2.5 tonnes of Uranium

Cool_CM

Turns out that those urban myths about there either being a nuclear reactor or nuclear waste on campus may actually have been true.

Irish Examiner wrote:

University ‘hopeful’ over disposal of uranium
By Paul O’Brien, Political Editor

UNIVERSITY College Cork (UCC) is "hopeful" a way can soon be found to dispose of 2.5 tonnes of uranium stored on campus.

The material stems from a student training reactor — properly known as a "subcritical assembly" (SCA) — which was received by UCC in the 1970s and disassembled in the early 1980s. The uranium has been lying in secure storage since the device was disassembled because UCC has been unable to find a way of disposing of the radioactive material.

But Education Minister Ruairí Quinn, in an answer to a parliamentary question, said "significant progress" has been made on the issue recently.

"UCC no longer has any use for this SCA and would like to dispose of the radioactive material," Mr Quinn said.

"However, disposing of such a large volume of such material presents unique technical and administrative problems.

"UCC in consultation with the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) has invested significant time and effort over the past number of years in resolving these issues.

"Significant progress has been made recently and UCC are hopeful that a resolution may be achieved soon. It is too early to assess the costs that will be associated with disposal at this time."

Cork South Central Labour TD Ciarán Lynch said it was essential a solution be found quickly.

"This is an issue that has dragged on over a long number of years and has been a legacy problem ever since the device first arrived at the university," he said.

"I’m glad that the response by the minister shows some progress has been made on the matter and that some resolution now looks like it can be found.

"But I would be calling on the minister and the university to ultimately and finally determine a safe solution to this in which the device and the material will be actually moved off the UCC campus."

Mr Quinn stressed the uranium was stored securely in a "proprietary radioactive waste store" built to a RPII-approved design.

"The material is held at UCC under licence from the RPII, and RPII inspectors regularly inspect this store in addition to inspections by the EU and by the IAEA," he said.

"The radioactive material is stored under strict physical and electronic security including continuous CCTV monitoring. The store is never entered except for the purposes of inspection."

Mr Quinn said the RPII had inspected the store in June and had been "satisfied" with the security arrangements.


Read more: http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/university-hopeful-over-disposal-of-uranium-169661.html#ixzz1Zu2kKcTa

rotinaj

So this sign is a lie then.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/redken/216940728/

ríomhaire

rotinaj wrote: »

So this sign is a lie then.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/redken/216940728/

That sign doesn't even make grammatical sense, never mind scientific sense.

GavRedKing

Might aswell sell the Uranium to terrorists and put the money towards paying off the IMF.

Just a thought. :P

Buceph

gavredking wrote: »

Might aswell sell the Uranium to terrorists and put the money towards paying off the IMF.

Just a thought. :P

But Martin McGuinness would only be using our money anyway.

gbee

I remember an incident that involved the Cork Fire Service responding to the reactor ~ no details ~ but we knew it was there.

Padraig Mor

Cool_CM wrote: »

Turns out that those urban myths about there either being a nuclear reactor or nuclear waste on campus may actually have been true.

???

It was confirmed years ago.

And high security? Yeah right! It's in a busy corridor with no security station (not gonna get more specific than that!).

gbee

Padraig Mor wrote: »

And high security? Yeah right! It's in a busy corridor with no security station (not gonna get more specific than that!).

Non Critical ...

The issue against the sign came up years ago too.

But it was denied too for a time, probably after the incident that potentially could have led to ...

And it was much bigger than the schoolboy's criticality incident in the US from a home made reactor. Happy daZ

musings

Did I hear there was some Plutonium down there as well?

gbee

musings wrote: »

Did I hear there was some Plutonium down there as well?

We know the science now, Uranium first, * criticality * Uranium decay = Plutonium = Happy Daz

It's there for so long, Arnie Gunderson [Fukushima] nuclear expert would tell you it HAS to there.

Go look him up. As example, the day TEPCO published their report on the Fukushima Daiichi reactor I was facing a ban for disagreeing with the 'experts' who said there had been no criticality and the reactors had shut down.

As we know now within FIVE hours after the earthquake Fukushima Daiichi had indeed gone critical and melted down ~ yet it was denied FURIOUSLY for three months more.

Handy that the 1986 Chernobyl fall out has a hot spot over Cork ~~ not saying anything. But if there are isotopes found, they tell a story ~ in this case ~ what story exactly?

Over to you.