The toughest storage job around: nuclear waste!

The toughest storage job around: nuclear waste!

People put things into storage for many reasons, usually it’s things we might want to see again or else why are we keeping it? Nuclear waste is not one of those things. It’s something we hope to never see again when we lock it away. For this reason very complicated steps are involved in the long term storage of such wastes. In most instances the intention is that these items will remain safely locked away for thousands of years.

On a small scale getting rid of something forever can be fairly simple. Just drop it into an icy crevice or a trench deep in the ocean. Many a treasure has been lost buried in unmarked holes or sealed deep in caves long forgotten and never to be seen again. Unfortunately for scientists the dangers presented simply by the presence of nuclear waste in open air or water or even buried securely far from human habitation are too great to be handled without the utmost caution. Nuclear waste presents an unprecedented scientific dilemma, since this radioactive material can remain dangerous long, long into the future, beyond perhaps even this era into a time when records may have been lost and warnings and locations of dangerous materials lost to the ravages of time.

The first approach scientists take in ensuring the highest security in radioactive waste storage is the careful design of incredibly long-lasting storage containers that sealed the material against even the most destructive of accidents. These storage containers or “casks” are made from the most sturdy of metals. Externally they are designed to withstand the most brutal punishment and tested to this effect. Even the earliest and most crude designs for containers built for the storage and transport of radioactive materials proved hardy enough to withstand the impact of a speeding diesel locomotive and still remain tightly sealed. This was 20 years ago and the technology has only improved.

Modern casks have multiple layers of protection for the dangerous material kept inside. Usually multiple layers of high-impact steel are separated by layers of concrete inches thick. The construction of the cask is usually so highly protective of its dangerous contents that be container itself is 5 to 10 times larger than the innermost storage compartment.

Safety is augmented by the suspension of radioactive material in glass. Wastes are mixed with molten glass before being form poured into the innermost storage container of the multi ton cask. This ensures that even if the cask itself cracked open in the most unlikely circumstances the dangerous radioactive material would still be stored in a solid form, unable to flow out of the broken cask.

Unfortunately public opinion is currently extremely negative on the issue of transporting radioactive material across borders for long-term secure storage. As a result the expense of casking radioactive waste is often not undertaken as temporary storage while less secure requires less space and expense. People do not realize in large numbers how much safer the transportation of radioactive waste is then to simply leave it in temporary storage at the location where it is generated. Eventually however the need to store permanently and therefore transport safely radioactive waste material will become undeniable – fortunately the tools to do so are readily at hand.

Storing a Hot Air Balloon

Storing a Hot Air Balloon

As a business owner, Mark Sindone oversees the majority of the day to day operations at the Inner West Sydney Super Cheap Self Storage facilities and also sometimes gets to personally work with the clients in settling the administrative procedures of settling into the storage units and also working through unique situations like one-of-a-kind items that need to find a protective space within the walls of the Super Cheap Self Storage plywood mobile storage unit.

One of the most memorable items that Mark has had the opportunity to keep and store was a big and bulky hot air balloon! It was an interesting discussion between him and the owner of the rather rare and unique item. The hot air balloon wasn’t owned by a company but rather by a man who happened to be an avid flyer and had used the hot air balloon himself on holiday weekends and day trips out in the country.

Mark was very intrigued by it and had a good conversation with the owner as to how to go about with the proper keeping and storage of the item. It worked out that since Super Cheap Self Storage’s main storage units were made of plywood, that a great amount of humidity and temperature control could be afforded for the materials that went into making the hot air balloon and that was the reason that the owner chose Super Cheap Self Storage to be the storage company to keep his precious balloon.

As luck would have it, the hot air balloon was slated for a pretty short term stay within the Super Cheap Self Storage facilities. The owner only needed to acquire a clean and safe place to store the balloon while he handled his own business in the meanwhile, after which he would come back to retrieve the balloon and take it back into his own possession. So because of the short tenure that was involved, Mark offered a free storage period in exchange for a chartered flight with the owner of the balloon – a fantastic opportunity to experience something that many do not have the chance to in their lifetime.

Alas, the owner gave a chuckle and pat Mark on the back and declared that as much as he would love to take him up on the offer of free storage, the balloon was out of commission for the time being and needed a fair bit of repairs to the damage in the fabric before it was air-worthy again. That was also partially the reason why he needed a good place to store his balloon – so that whatever damage and tears to the balloon could be minimalised during the period that he handled his business.

But not to worry, Mark says that after the owner received his hot air balloon back he was quite pleased with the service and standard of storage and was sure to let Mark know when the hot air balloon was ship-shape again – Mark is already looking forward to the day!

And that’s just one in many stories that you’ll hear about at the Super Cheap Self Storage facilities in Inner West Sydney!

Hidden Storage Treasures

Hidden Storage Treasures

This is a short story submitted to us from a client at our Super Cheap Self Storage facility. We just wanted to share with you the funny happening today and hope it brightens up your afternoon!

HI Super Cheap Self Storage,

My family has just recently had to undertake some renovations and we had to move quite a lot of our things out to somewhere while we ourselves looked for alternative places to stay. We actually figured that picking out a storage unit might be the most economical and efficient way to get things done so we did our research and asked around and settled on your services for the day.

We were in the midst of getting our things ready for when the Super Cheap removalists were slated to arrive but because we are on your premium package, we kind of knew that we didn’t have to do much preparation since we took on the Premium Package – the Super Cheap guys could more or less take care of everything once we got things wrapped up and ready to be moved. (That being said, we are definitely impressed with the amount of control that you guys have over the whole process and thank our lucky stars we found you to help us with this undertaking!)

In any case, your professional team of removalists were helping us to get everything all packed up and slowly moved out onto the patio to load into the mobile storage unit and one of the removalists stopped us while he was moving a box full of toys. Now our kids have grown up and moved out, so this must have been some box that was stowed away in the attic for the longest time that we really just forgot all about! So when he brought this box down, it brought back a huge gush of memories for us.

More amazingly, was that he told us that some of the items in there, we should actually take with us instead of putting into storage because it looked like some of the items might be pretty valuable. Now we were quite taken aback when he said that because most of our toys weren’t in the best of condition having been well loved and used by the kids way back when. But we decided to take his advice and we hung on to that box long enough for us to get onto the internet and do a quick Google about the items that were in there.

Long story short, turns out that some of the toys we had in there, 30 over years old mind, WERE really of some value and we made a pretty penny getting the items sold off to the local antiquities shop!

We just wanted to give your team a quick shout-out for being so observant about the items and thank you for voicing out his opinion to us on them! I’m sure there are a lot of other people who have some treasure in their storage unit too and this is a pretty interesting reminder to never discount the items that you have stowed away in your house!

Space Storage, Storage Spaces (Say that 10 times fast!)

Space Storage, Storage Spaces (Say that 10 times fast!)

Most people living on the world today will never journey to outer space. Even with the most rapid advances in spacecraft technology most of us will be stuck here on good old earth. But don’t think that that doesn’t mean the age for widespread space travel is not upon us. While it might not be happening tomorrow space travel for commercial purposes and even tourism is already in the planning stages. This raises an important question. With outer space being so hostile to human life, how will we survive? What can we bring with us to help us endure the rigours of space travel?

Fortunately for us aspiring Buck Rogers’ scientists have been studying these questions for decades. Starting back at the dawn of the space-age what supplies are necessary and how to store them safely has been an integral question in science of space exploration. What do you may not know is that this science as events into a business. Believe it or not there is now an industry devoted to space supply. Space logistics has gone from being the subject of study to a bustling business With billions of dollars invested in. Savvy business people long ago figured out that not only was space travel, so was the opportunity to make money supplying future space travellers with all they need to survive.

Modern technology has made the preservation of perishable goods and adaptation to harsh conditions of equipment a relatively simple procedure. This does not mean that anyone can prepare supplies for space travel however. Modern space supply chain entrepreneurs have to deal with the key limiting factor of space travel supplies – storage. Space travel, despite what you might seen science-fiction films is a very complex and delicately balanced Blend of science and technology with understandably little room for error. As such spacecraft are necessarily designed first for safety, and second for comfort. And safety requires a lot of equipment. The expense of building spacecraft and delivering those craft into space leaves precious little room for cargo. And since you only want to ship supplies into space as infrequently as possible, miniaturisation and weight optimisation are essential considerations for any business involved in the space logistics industry.

Let’s look at the international space station, a good place to start as it is most assuredly our greatest endeavour and helping people survive in the harsh conditions of space. At any one time there can be as many as seven astronauts living on the international space station and they’ll need to be fed (and watered) and these supply flights can only happen a few times a year. Flights can deliver approximately 3 tons of supplies, which certainly sounds like a lot. But when you consider that the bulk of this weight is fuel and breathable air understand how precious little space available there is for extravagances. Let’s look at the food requirements for six astronauts over six months. It’s hard to believe that even a ton of food could sustain that many people for that long. Companies in the space logistics industry have worked long and hard to figure out how to pack the most nutritional value into the smallest spaces. This again leads to the ultimate question of storage space on international space station is quite limited, with most areas being devoted to the scientific missions It was designed for. So out of necessity food items must be packaged and sized in a way to best utilise this precious storage space.

A mountain of storage containers from ancient Rome to the modern day.

A mountain of storage containers from ancient Rome to the modern day.

Historians know that humans have used clay storage containers for thousands of years mainly for the storing of food and beverage items. By perfecting the manipulation of clay it was possible for the first time to protect food from the elements with with relatively airtight jars which could be sealed by animal skin or paraffin wax. For the first time ever humans were able to move perishable goods over long distances and keep the bounty of the harvest in storage for the times later in the year.

Perhaps the greatest testament to the popularity of these clay containers is Monte Testaccio which can be found in the center of one of the world’s most ancient cities, Rome. Not a true mountain, Monte Testaccio is perhaps the world’s oldest scrapyard for used storage containers. For hundreds of years Romans disposed of used clay pots and vases known as amphorae. popularly used for the storage and transportation of wine, amphorae were relied upon by ancient Romans for everyday use. However these fragile clay storage containers were only useful for storage when in pristine condition. Relatively inexpensive amphorae could be discarded with little regard when the slightest flaw was discovered. As the contents were infinitely more valuable than the broken container.

From the first century BC until the third century BC Romans created Monte Testaccio by disposing of hundreds of thousands of olive oil containers. Historians speculate that these 70 L containers were too difficult to recycle into other uses and therefore were discarded creating a mountain of broken pottery hundreds of feet high and covering 20,000 m². In the intervening centuries this mountain of discarded storage containers has served as a geographical landmark in Rome which at times has had with religious and military significance.

Archaeologists began studying the mountain in the 1870s. It has provided fascinating insight into the culinary lifestyle of ancient Rome. The site is adjacent to what was once the cities governmental olive oil reserve. By excavation and study of the discarded storage containers found at various levels throughout the mountain experts have sermons that at its height in the second century BC Rome was importing up to 7.5 million liters of olive oil per year. From this historians can extrapolate information previously unknown of Rome in ancient times such as population and the reach of trade partnerships. Even today archaeologists still plumb the depths of Monte Testaccio in search of more artifacts to help flesh out our ideas of life in ancient Rome. This process is made easier by the very structure of the mountain itself. As explorers have discovered the disposal of these clay storage containers was a highly organized and government regulated activity. Build of several tiered levels over the centuries the pile was constructed by carrying intact clay storage containers to the top on the backs of donkeys. The containers were then broken and formed into tightly packed tiers which were then covered with lime ostensibly to control the stench of rotting oil, but conveniently serving as an excellent preservative for the delicate shards themselves. This highly regulated system of storage has made study by archaeologists highly productive.

Self storage facilities as an inventory solution for small business.

Self storage facilities as an inventory solution for small business.

As every small business owner names one of the largest and most unavoidable business expenses is property overhead. The rent on your basic business is an expense that cannot be avoided. This is why so many businesses go to pains to find the perfect location that is not only convenient for their customers but also allows them to perform their business seamlessly. Unfortunately these two qualities can sometimes be hard to reconcile. Often businesses will find that a location that is convenient for customers is in an area where property of significant size is too expensive. On the other hand areas with large properties available to business can often be far from centers of consumer interest.

This can be a vexing conundrum for a small business owner. You pay more to a larger property near to your customers or instead choose a more affordable property that has all the facilities your business requires yet will be far from the consumer center and runs the risk of limiting your customer base?

What many business owners fail to consider is that it is possible to downsize your property requirements without risking the quality of business you perform. Consumer self storage facilities can be an excellent resource for small businesses. Instead of investing in a larger property that allows you to keep all your inventory close at hand, keeping that inventory which is not an immediate need in a self storage unit can be vastly cheaper than the difference in rent for a larger commercial property.

Every city, large or small, as a variety of self storage businesses from which. to choose. This helps the business owner buying and off-site storage facility that is close by and therefore convenient to his or her business. Many small business owners use self storage not only for excess inventory what to keep seasonal items on hand allowing them to make initial purchases that are larger and more cost-effective.

Small business owners realize that having more inventory on hand (or nearby, in this case) means less chance of disappointing customers with out of stock items. Being able to answer a customer’s needs at any time translates to more sales and satisfied, long term customers. Why wait for items from the supplier that may take weeks to arrive, when a 15 minute drive your nearby self storage facility can fulfill the need?

The benefits provided by storing excess inventory at a self storage facility exceed just be simple necessity of investing in a larger commercial space. Utility costs are also reduced. Many self storage facilities offer a variety of climate control storage units which are accessible 24 hours a day. This allows you to keep your excess inventory in pristine condition without having to pay extra for climate control, refrigeration and electricity at your main commercial site.

Now that you know this, as a small business owner consider what items in your commercial space can be moved to a nearby, off-site storage facility without interrupting your. daily flow of business. With these items securely stored almost commercial space you really need for your business? It might now be possible to locate your business in a new, more economically feasible location more convenient to your customers.

Sorting out items for Storage

Sorting out items for Storage

Super Cheap Self Storage Illawarra has some stories of their own, even though they are one of the younger outlets in the franchise. Mark Grogan who is the outlet’s manager would love to share some stories about how it was like to set up shop when he first took on the mantle of business owner.

In the short time that we’ve been in operation, we’ve already come leaps and bounds from our initial few days where I struggled with understanding the administrative bits of things and also getting used to the flow of the operations in the facility. Most days I was running around like a headless chicken because I had to take on many roles at once in order to make sure that things ran smoothly.

But it didn’t take long before Super Cheap Self Storage Illawarra got its bearings and I was able to breathe again. One of the biggest milestones for us has got to be when we started expanding the number of vehicles we had so that we could continue to expand business and reach in the area and we were expecting the delivery of new Pantech trucks which could hold 3 storage modules each on every journey. That would definitely save us lots of time and consequently enable us to give an even better value-add to our customers who are always on a look out for cheap rates and good quality storage services.

Well, what happened with that was that we were really quite impressed with the truck when it first arrived – it was all big and brand new – shiny to boot and the capacity of that monster was incomparable! We were excited to load it up and see how much the baby could really hold before we started bringing her out on our delivery and pick-up runs with our actual storage modules.

But I think there was something that the manufacturer forgot to mention to us – the weight of the whole truck leaned to one side! Maybe people don’t have our kind of “heavy usage” when they buy one of these trucks, but when you put the fuel tank and the doors on the same side of the truck, you are going to face quite some problems with the balance of the whole vehicle when you are loading it up!

Well after a bit of head scratching, we finally figured out what the problem was and sent the truck back to the dealership, quick as lightning to get them to take a look at the issue and get it fixed on the double! Once they had the spring upgrade, everything was good to go! That being settled, I’d say we are all ready to ramp up our operations and roll out our services to the rest of Illawarra and not anymore chances of the truck falling over at the traffic lights while we’re at it!

Make Your Move to a Smaller House Easier

Make Your Move to a Smaller House Easier

As Australia’s baby boomers move into retirement, there is an increasing trend for homeowners to downsize. Some choose to place their furniture into self storage, while others are keen to make a fresh start in smaller, more comfortable premises.

But moving house under any circumstances can be a tax on your patience as well as your emotions. Leaving behind a larger house where memories have been shared with the rest of the family, and relocating into a completely different style of accommodation has its blessings as well is its worries.

Of course, smaller houses can mean smaller bills. First of all there are usually lower electricity costs and water bills, not to mention the reduced effort in keeping the house clean!

A move into a smaller house needs careful consideration and meticulous planning if you are to make the right decision. Let’s take a look at the important issues you should cover before making your mind up.

• Time to clean up. Moving into a smaller house gives you a great opportunity to get rid of the things which have cluttered your living space for many years. How many of us have unpacked boxes under our houses, or in the attic? What about those kitchen utensils and packages of crockery that you rarely use? Moving into a smaller house means you can be ruthless about getting rid of the things you no longer need. It’s easy to make a gift of them to a charity, or even other members of the family. Just be certain that you have sufficient room in your new house to accommodate whatever you decide to keep.
• The only efficient way to decide whether your furniture needs to be replaced is to draw an accurate floor plan of your new house. Removalists can often provide you with templates to make your job easier. Draw some scale pictures of the furniture you want to keep and see if your floor plan confirms that you can fit everything in.
• When you finally start to pack up, make sure you label every box according to where it will be placed in your new house. This way it will be easier to unpack at the other end. Colour coding your boxes can make it easier for removalists as well. In other words mark the boxes containing all your kitchen items in red, the lounge room in blue, bedroom one in pink etc.
• Take particular care with kitchen items. You will be surprised at how much you have accumulated in your large kitchen, especially crockery and cutlery. Check the cupboard space in your new kitchen carefully and measure out the utensils you are able to comfortably store. The most critical measurement of course will be your refrigerator. Many new houses have smaller openings for refrigerators and you may be left with no choice other than to replace it.

Careful planning could avoid the need for using a self storage facility. Just make sure you take your time, plan well in advance, and don’t be too sentimental when deciding whether to keep some of your old household items.

Looking for a Good Storage Facility

Looking for a Good Storage Facility

Now that you’ve made the decision to move some of your items into a storage facility, it’s time to start short listing the different storage companies and find the lucky one who will have the privilege of keeping all your previous items.

We all know what a hassle it is to weed the bad from the good providers if you’ve never had your items in storage before. It also obviously does not make sense to have to try everyone of the companies out first hand before you boil it down to the cream of the crop.

With that said, the first place that you should start looking actually is NOT the classifieds, but the internet. Look for forums and reviews of the storage provider that you’re looking to hire. There are lots of people out there who HAVE done the groundwork of trying out a number of different Storage Companies and this lot of caring people are generous enough to share their findings with the world vis-a-vis the great and powerful worldwide web.

Besides comparing the obvious – prices and value for money, there are a number of other things that need to be looked at too. But for the sake of this article, we’ll just put it out there that a cheap price does NOT always mean you’ve got a great deal. Again, look to reviews to see if the value of the service is on par with the amount of money you’re paying. When it comes to handling the more fragile items and bulky equipment, you want to make sure that you’re paying enough to the guys who are handling your items so that they’ll take proper care of everything.

Look out especially for reviews on the types of portable storage unit and modules that are provided. Most companies should be able to offer you a tour around their facility for storing too so that you can see firsthand the condition of containers in storage and also the units themselves.

Also keep an eye out value-added services that the company can offer. Full Storage Solution companies (like us at Super Cheap Self Storage) have a lot of a partners that are able to offer you discounts and even cheaper prices when you contract more than one service at a time. Other value added services can come in the form of assistive cleaning and/or inspection services, even something as simple as throwing in free protective padding or using portable units to make it easier for you to store with that company.

When going through the contracts, do take the time to pick out the companies that include money-back clauses and other guarantees so that you have a bit of a fallback in case anything happens. And NEVER compromise on content insurance just in case. You can never be too careful.

Lastly but most importantly, do think carefully about your own personal parameters before starting to look. Important things to start thinking about it obviously budget and how much help do you think you need. When you do get around to narrowing companies down, many of them ARE willing to help you package what you need into an easy (discounted) solution.

So good luck with the search! We hope these tips make the hunt for that perfect Storage Solution that much easier for you!

How To Use The Internet To Help In Your Self Storage Search

How To Use The Internet To Help In Your Self Storage Search

Gone are the days where you need to get in your car and drive to the shops to look around and ask the managers what to do. It used to be that we needed to do everything on foot but now we can do so many things right at our fingertips with the internet! So let’s use the World Wide Web to get us started when you’re looking for a self storage unit to rent for your items.

And if you haven’t heard about the power of the Search Engine, then now is the time we tell you that this is precisely where to start. In this digital age, we might seem reliant on our ability to pull out all information by simply typing in a question into Google. This glorious text field where we type in our questions and queries pulls out thousands of websites that will lead us to forums and company home pages and review sites and whatever else you can think of so that you can have your every question answered!

Here’s some quick advice on what you may want to look for when you power up your computer to search for a Self Storage facility near you and their rates:

• “Self Storage near Sydney”
  There’s no faster way to get advice on your nearest self storage facility than to search for self storage in your own home town or suburb! Most people look for self storage facilities that are convenient for them to move in to and reach in terms of transport so when you search using these keywords, you’ll get relevant news on self storage in your near vicinity. That’s going to make it so much easier for you to choose one that suits your needs!
• Review Sites
  Review sites for self storage in your area will help you to get a good idea of what other people think of the services of a particular self storage company in your area. This should give you some information like whether the services are up to par and whether they really take care of your items when you store with them. And that’s really important when you want your precious items to be properly taken care of!
• Rate comparisons
  We obviously want a good deal right? Rate comparison sites will share with you who’s giving you the best deal for the tenure and size of self storage that you want. This is the easiest and fastest way to find out where the cheapest options are. But do be aware that sometimes the newspapers may advertise seasonal deals, and physically enquiring with the company may get you a specially crafted package for your needs too!
• The actual storage company’s website
  Now finally you want to know exactly what the company can offer you so search for the actual company and go through their webpage and read up! If in doubt, you can easily grab their number and other contacts from the webpage so you can blast them with questions that you can’t find answers to from their page.

And when you’re done with your research, don’t forget to actually get in touch with the company of your choice. Despite the convenience and simplicity of doing things on the internet, there’s nothing that trumps a personal touch. In case after listing down all your potential choices and all the different options, you’re still confused, rest assured that you can almost always make your final decision once you’ve had a chat with the company consultants of the self storage facility managers! So we hope that you’ve learnt a bit from our little write-up here and all the best of luck finding a self storage facility that you need!