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.
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
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.
There are many different types of radioactive waste, but the two major types are “low-level waste” and “high-level waste” (“Radioactive Waste Management”). There are a few different ways that we can store these wastes depending on what level they are. The low-level waste mainly comes from medical facilities or some type of industry (“Radioactive Waste Management”). In order to dispose of the low level wastes, they are usually placed in a radioactive waste material storage bin and stored at the hospital or site that they were produced at (“Radioactive Waste Production”). There are only a few sites that will actually take the low level wastes and store them in the United States. However, they will only take specific types of this low level waste and will only allow the wastes from certain permitted states (“Radioactive Waste Production”). The low-level wastes can also be disposed of by being placed ...
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...
“Waste Management Overview.” World Nuclear Association. World Nuclear Association. Nov. 2013. Web. 22 Apr. 2014. >.
Rechard, R. P. (1999). Historical relationship between performance assessment for radioactive waste disposal and other types of risk assessment. Risk Analysis, 19(5), 763-807. doi:10.1023/A:1007058325258
The central argument of the film was not explicit, meaning there were a couple arguments that linked together. The main argument was that nuclear power is not as terrifying of an energy source as it is perceived to be. Many of the people interviewed in the film were very against nuclear power, however, once they saw and analyzed the facts their view quickly changed. The secondary argument, which was made at the end of the documentary, was that the next generation will understand the environmental change and will put nuclear in the correct context. They will understand that nuclear energy is a crucial source of energy for the future.
How a nuclear reactor works is a process called The Nuclear Fuel Cycle. It runs like this. First, workers must mine the Uranium. Then after scientists use chemical elements to turn the Uranium into U-235. After being enriched, it goes through fuel fabrication to a reactor to create electricity or to be turned into waste. The spent fuel powering the electricity is now called “waste.” Now the technology, waste can now be re-used to make more Uranium or Plutonium. However, it can only occurs a limited amount of times before the waste is too little to use. Thus, waste is still released out of a reactor, but is stored in a safe place underground, and away from urban
So, it is a necessity that we use it, but the methods for safe disposal should also be explicit. Currently coal, gas and hydro are the major sources of energy. But as mentioned beforehand these resources would become scarce in the future. Nuclear power was devised so that we could gain far more energy from radioactive elements as compared to the aforementioned sources. The energy is produced by the use of nuclear reactors, the fuel used in these reactors is the source of the wastes. The waste is basically used up radioactive elements that were part of the fuel. These elements are extremely toxic in nature and must be disposed of with utmost care. But, the matter of contention is that whether it can be disposed of safely or not. The research and studies represent varying conclusions that may need to be further discussed. The sources used for this essay are
rate. A half-life can be less than a second or can be thousands of years long.
Disposing of radioactive waste is a costly job, but it needs to be done correctly with proper management or it can have detrimental effects on people and the environment. The waste needs to either be buried or kept underwater in airtight containers. The US has strict measures in place to control and manage their nuclear waste. It is a lengthy process whereby the waste is first stored for a period of time and then only disposed of once approved by the government. South Africa, however, only has one disposal site which will soon be too small. The site will need to hold high-level waste as another nuclear site has been added to the old list of one.
More action to create more storage is being done. Nuclear waste is stored at surface level in the UK, but there are plans to create deep underground locations to lock up the waste, but they are still planning on the location (Wong, Sam). The main fear driven by the existence of nuclear waste is that the waste may get into their homes or contaminate the drinking water. Those assumptions are false, and the waste will always have somewhere to be stored as long as it is being made, so you will not have to worry about it getting into contact with you.Also, the Yucca Mountain in Nevada is a decided location to become a repository for nuclear waste and is currently in use ('Stop Dithering on Nuclear Waste' [Science Agenda]). For the nuclear power generators in the US, there is a large safe place for waste which is well funded.Nuclear waste should never come in contact with somebody who does not choose to work near it. Of course, if you do choose to work with nuclear waste so that the waste, opportunities to make the waste atomically stable are being researched with some
The long lasting problem of storing nuclear waste is upon us now and needs to be solved. The radioactive waste eventually decays or reduces as time goes on. Most of the waste is low-level waste which releases alpha and beta radiation which can be easily shielded; however, some of the waste-like spent fuel rods release gamma rays that are extremely strong and dangerous....
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.
About 27 percent of the trash is recycled, 16 percent is burned, and 57 percent is buried in landfills. A landfill by definition is a carefully designed structure built into or on top of the ground in which trash is isolated from the surrounding environment. This isolation is made possible with a bottom liner and covering of soil. Most landfills use a synthetic plastic liner to isolate the trash from the environment. In a landfill, not all of the land is used for dumping trash. Some areas are used for runoff collecti...