The Problem with Nuclear Waste
The United States alone produces an average volume of commercial low-level radioactive waste of about 500,000 cubic feet each year. That is a lot of waste! This comes from a variety of places. Mainly though, it is produced by nuclear power plants. This waste brings up a problem though. It is difficult to dispose of radioactive materials for two reasons. One, some radioactive materials last for thousands of years. Two, most radioactive materials are hazardous and can't be stored with conventional means. Currently, there are a few proposals that have been made to combat this problem. These include near-surface facilities, mined cavities, and geological repositories.
In the past, some countries dumped radioactive waste into the sea. This is extremely hazardous to the environment. Recently though, more practical ideas have been made to bury the waste. Before the material is even considered for storage or disposal, it must be properly packaged. This includes packing it into steel drums or concrete containers. These containers are expected to provide physical containment for at least a thousand years. If the waste is in a liquid state, it must be placed on a special abosrbitent type of material and then placed into the containers. The next step would be to transport the containers to the burial site.
There are several different types of diposal facilities proposed. One is a near-surface facility. This facility is located within a few tens of meters from the surface. These facilities include trenches, and engineered vaults. Another proposal is mined cavities. These facilities are constructed inside mines and caverns. They are either man-made or natural. The last proposal is called a geological repository. These sites are located more than several hundred meters below the surface in a stable geological formation(away from major fault lines and other problem spots). After the site is located there are other steps in the disposal process.
It is proposed that the drums will be placed in groups of four. Around these groups of four a frame will be built. The frames then will be placed inside hard rock holes or caverns. This will then be covered with a special backfill material that prevents the movement of groundwater.A fter all of this is done, the site will be monitored for up to 100 years to detect any leakage of radioactive material or any outside influences such as flooding.
This rock type could prove dangerous, being soft and with little solidness in its structure. Therefore placing the protection over the rock cliffs was a very well thought and planned engineering
In 2002, the installation of fencing around the area where buried drums were located and the regradi...
City of Los Angeles Department of Public Works Bureau of Engineering. Hyperion Solids Handling Facilities Improvement Project. 1993.
Throughout this mining process a byproduct is created called chat. The chat is leftover rock and waste from mining that did not contained the desired materials. The chat was left on the site because the Bureau of Indian Affairs thought it could be of value to the Quapaw tribe (1). This chat contained high levels of toxic lead and other harmful chemicals. It is estimated that there are 75 Million tons (150 billion pounds) of chat piles remaining exposed to the environment as well as numerous flotation ponds that haven’t been taken into account (4).
One of the most talked about opposition toward nuclear fission is the radioactive waste it produces. A radioactive waste is what is left behind after using a reactor to make electricity. There are two levels of waste, low and high, but both are regulated by the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. High level waste is made up of fuel that’s been used directly in the reactor that is highly radioactive but can still be disposed. Low level waste is the contaminated items that have been exposed to radiation. The nuclear wastes are then stored in a safe and secure location with different types of methods such as wet storage, dry storage, and away from reactor storage. Wet storage is the main method of disposing the waste because it is the
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waste to be formed. This waste is very dangerous since it remains radioactive for hundreds of
producing a earthquake safe environment. In a nuclear facility that in itself is a danger, an honest
Since the dawn of civilization, all living (and some non-living) things have needed energy. When humans discovered fire, the first form of harnessed energy, it made it easier to stay warm, prepare food, make weapons, etc. Since then, humankind has been inventing new ways to harness energy and use it to our advantage. Now-a-days, people in most nations depend extremely heavily on fossil fuels – to work, travel, regulate temperature of homes, produce food, clothing, and furniture, as well as other power industries. Not only are these fossil fuels dominating our society and creating economic vulnerability, but they also produce waste that causes a number of social and environmental concerns. The waste from these fuels leads to acid rain, smog, and climate change. It also releases sulfur dioxide as well as other air pollutants that are very harmful to the human respiratory system (Morris, 1999, p. ix). There are other alternative sustainable energy sources including solar, hydroelectric, wind, and biomass. However, the main source aside from fossil fuel is nuclear energy from controlled nuclear reactions (where nuclei of radioisotopes become stable or nonradioactive by undergoing changes) in a nuclear power plant. Nuclear power produces enormous amounts of energy to serve a community. Unfortunately, nuclear energy has its own set of problems – a big one being its waste. The spent fuel from nuclear plants is radioactive. This means that it emits radiation, or penetrating rays and particles emitted by a radioactive source. Ionizing radiation is known to cause cancer, and therefore makes anyone who lives near spent nuclear waste facilities vulnerable to this incurable disease. The disposal of nuclear waste is a global issue...
In addition to the potential dangers of accidents in generating stations, nuclear waste is a continuing problem that is growing exponentially. Nuclear waste can remain radioactive for about 600 years and disposing these wastes or storing them is an immense problem. Everyone wants the energy generated by power plants, but no one wants to take responsibility for the waste. Thus far, it is stored deep in the earth, but these storage areas are potentially dangerous and will eventually run out. Some have suggested sending the waste into space, but no one is sure of the repercussions.
The energy industry is beginning to change. In today’s modern world, governments across the globe are shifting their focuses from traditional sources of power, like the burning coal and oil, to the more complex and scientific nuclear power supply. This relatively new system uses powerful fuel sources and produces little to no emissions while outputting enough energy to fulfill the world’s power needs (Community Science, n.d.). But while nuclear power seems to be a perfect energy source, no power production system is without faults, and nuclear reactors are no exception, with their flaws manifesting in the form of safety. Nuclear reactors employ complex systems involving pressure and heat. If any of these systems dysfunctions, the reactor can leak or even explode releasing tons of highly radioactive elements into the environment. Anyone who works at or near a nuclear reactor is constantly in danger of being exposed to a nuclear incident similar to the ones that occurred at the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi plants. These major accidents along with the unresolved problems with the design and function of nuclear reactors, as well as the economic and health issues that nuclear reactors present serve to show that nuclear energy sources are not worth the service that they provide and are too dangerous to routinely use.
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (Last updated on 3/20/2013). Radioactive Waste Disposal: An Environmental Perspective [EPA 402-K-94-001]. Available: http://www.epa.gov/radiation/docs/radwaste/. Last accessed 25th April 2014.
The mistakes of the past need not be repeated, for hazardous waste can be controlled using methods that prevent damage to human health and the environment. These methods have been neglected in the past primarily because they cost more than indiscriminate or careless dumping, and because no law required their use(Kiefer, 1981, p.51).
Traditional methods for cleaning up contaminated sites such as dig and haul, pump and treat, soil venting, air sparging and others are generally harmful to habitats. Some methods strip the soil of vital nutrients and microorganisms, so nothing can grow on the site, even if it has been decontaminated. Typically these mechanical methods are also very expensive. Most of the remediation technologies that are currently in use are very expensive, relatively inefficient and generate a lot of waste, to be disposed of.
Wastes are the products of our consumptions in our daily life routines such as lunch, work, school and other things we do. Little things such as throwing out a piece of paper, we are producing waste by the seconds. After we consume a product we usually throw out what’s left that can’t be consumed any further. Results in producing waste, substance that are born after it’s been use or consume by us. At the end of each day we throw out a bag full of garbage, all of the materials in that bag (paper towels, cans, leftover foods and many other material’s) all of these are waste. Hospitals produce medical waste such as use needles for treating patients. Corporations produce papers, plastics, tires, steels, cans and many other type of solid waste which contribute to the pollutions that cause health risk and other environmental issues.