# Find out how close nuclear waste will come to your house! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 18, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741 "2002-06-18T20:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Big\_Kahuna\_Burger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Kahuna_Burger)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/1 "2002-06-18T20:42:39Z")
If they finally go through with the Yucca Mountain waste storage plans they’re going to have to transport the nuclear wasteall across the nation to Southern Nevada. The wonderful folks at [www.mapscience.org](http://www.mapscience.org) will figure out how close these transports will come to your house in a few seconds. Me, I’m 1.5 miles from one of the transports, and they’re actually storing waste merely 23 miles south of me :eek:. So how far are you from the trail of nuclear waste? I’m sure there are some people who beat me. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/2 "2002-06-18T20:56:01Z")
This isn’t where I live, but it’s where my family used to live before we moved: 0.3 miles from the transports, and 10.6 miles from the nearest source. FYI, this was in a town in Iowa along the Mississippi. I’m not really worried about it (even if I still lived there). Not even enough to merit an :eek:. ---
**Author:** ![CRorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CRorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CRorex)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/3 "2002-06-18T21:05:11Z")
Wheee, nuclear waste. Whoop-di-freaking-do Unless the waste is dumping off shitloads of gamma-particles you don’t have anything to worry about. Remember kidlets, alpha particles are stopped by pieces of notebook paper. Beta particles by quarter inch plastic. Gamma, now those need lead storage containers. I’d worry if it was down the road from me, or like two feet above the drinking water table. But… eh even then I wouldn’t worry too much. Hrrm which reminds me I need to find my radiation badge. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/4 "2002-06-18T21:33:29Z")
Woooo hoooo 11.9 miles from nearest route 39.7 From the nearest storage facility. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/5 "2002-06-18T22:02:50Z")
Blah blah blah. 1. I’ve seen the freight trains that pass through my area at all hours of the day and night. Going by the labels, a lot of them carry some pretty formidable hazardous materials. Adding another type of freight to the mix is going to increase my risk, what, 1 or 2 percent?! :rolleyes: 2. They state some enormous figure for train “wrecks” (I’m in Illinois), but then reveal that nearly half that number are trains hitting pedestrians or vehicles. The train wins 95% or more of those incidents with barely a scratch on the locomotive’s paint. I also imagine the high number comes from (a) the fact that Illinois includes Chicago, the hub of the North American rail system and (b) they include ALL collisions and incidents (“wrecks,” bloody hell!) including all the peds who get hit by Metra (read: not carrying nuclear waste) trains running for the train. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Com2Kid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Com2Kid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Com2Kid)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/6 "2002-06-18T22:10:16Z")
Living in Washington state I am pretty safe from this truck load, but Hanford has been confirmed to be leaking nuclear waste into the Columbia river, which authorities have states is “not an issue.” . . . . ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/7 "2002-06-18T22:14:14Z")
I’m within 1 mile of a proposed route. Hell. Less. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![ladybug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/46a35a/32.png) [@ladybug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladybug)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/8 "2002-06-18T23:06:45Z")
I’m 2.2 miles from the nearest nuclear waste route. Not surprising, since I’m pretty close to I-95. And I’m 45.6 miles from the nearest nuclear waste source. ---
**Author:** ![clayton\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c57346/32.png) [@clayton\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clayton_e)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/9 "2002-06-18T23:07:39Z")
To all of you who say it’s fine, don’t worry, they have containers and stuff for that. What about when someone gets ahold of those materials who should not have them? Do those containers do much then? ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2002, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/10 "2002-06-18T23:33:01Z")
My address was not found. I must be safe. ---
**Author:** ![Slainte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Slainte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slainte)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/11 "2002-06-19T00:41:40Z")
Distance from the nearest nuclear waste route: 84.4 miles Distance from Savannah River, the nearest waste source: 93.9 miles No PF Changs in SC but no nuclear waste either - I guess it balances out 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/12 "2002-06-19T02:14:50Z")
About a thousand feet from where I live to one proposed route and a bit over 500 feet from where I work to another proposed route. So, what are the odds I could wind up with some kind of cool superpowers out of this? ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/13 "2002-06-19T02:26:43Z")
0.8 miles from a proposed route. So, what’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![KeithT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@KeithT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KeithT)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/14 "2002-06-19T08:27:48Z")
I work less than a hundred _feet_ from an operating research nuclear reactor. Take classes in that building, too. Actually, it’s kind of neat to watch it from outside on cold mornings. Any time you dump close to a megawatt of heat into the atmosphere as water vapor, you’re bound to get lots of condensation. In subzero weather, the white puffs skip the liquid phase altogether and fall to the ground as light snow. Gives a whole new meaning to “nuclear winter.” ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/15 "2002-06-19T15:27:51Z")
146 miles. I guess I can breathe a sigh of relief there… ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/16 "2002-06-19T16:34:21Z")
Anyone “who should not have one” managing to open a (very heavy, not easily stolen, and hard to open) container of dangerously radioactive waste deserves just what happens to them. Low-level waste? Eh. Me, I’m not too concerned by nuke waste. I’d be more concerned by loss of radiography sources. Oh: 3.4 miles /19.6 miles. The ‘dangerous’ transit route…? I-95. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Conceivable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@In\_Conceivable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Conceivable)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/17 "2002-06-19T16:47:48Z")
So the are going to take the nuclear waste out of the nuclear power plant in my town and ship it to Nevada? I am kind of glad that the route is only 1/2 mile from my home. I think that I am going to go out there and wave goodbye to it as it passes. I’ll miss you nuclear waste. Be sure to write. ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/18 "2002-06-19T20:08:04Z")
Wow do I feel lucky. I’ve got a highway that’s only .5 of a mile from me. But I’ve also got the train tracks that are also .5 away from me. I’m almost exactly down the middle! ---
**Author:** ![Winnowill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/4491bb/32.png) [@Winnowill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Winnowill)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/19 "2002-06-19T21:23:13Z")
Ah, finally got the map to come up (had to put in a neighboring address. About three miles from the nearest route (which actually curves away from me, and so isn’t very close for very long), and 50 miles from the nearest waste source, that being the nuclear plant, oddly enough. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2002, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741/20 "2002-06-19T21:54:09Z")
Well, as I sit here looking out my window I can see the tracks those trains will travel; they are directly across the street from my home. When I heard about this on the news I kind of figured that “my” tracks might be involved. But still–it was something altogether different to see that map load up with the star representing my home sitting smack-dab on top of the hatched line of the railroad route. I’ll be glad once it’s through. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/find-out-how-close-nuclear-waste-will-come-to-your-house/114741.md?page=2)