Nuclear Waste Disposal.

The management of nuclear waste disposal is frightening for many

people. People are concerned because of the scale of problems that
would result from human error. Errors that have occurred in the past
frighten individuals into thinking that nuclear energy and nuclear
products should be avoided. Also, because nuclear power can be
harnessed into weapons of mass destruction, this has made nuclear a
feared word.

Nuclear waste can be dangerous. Radioactive products, nuclear

byproducts resulting from use in modern medicine, and products such
as uranium, and plutonium are a concern. Responsible management of
these products is crucial to environmental safety and the safety of
residents.

As many nuclear power plants are coming to the end of their lifecycle,
citizens are concerned with how they will be managed. Nuclear waste
is stored and the concern of a leak or accident is very troubling. The fact
is that organizations responsible for the management of nuclear waste
disposal are accountable and run under very detailed and careful
processes and regulations with inspections and detailed safety
measures.

Nuclear energy is clean and safe. Stories about situations like

Chernobyl in the Soviet Union frighten people. In that situation, the lid
from a Nuclear reactor blew and the resulting fire and radioactive
contamination that spread resulted in many deaths. To this day, 3,000
square miles around that power plant remain quarantined due to the
contamination. Accidents do happen but overall the management of
nuclear waste is handled responsibly. Unfortunately, what happened at
Chernobyl taught lessons to power authorities on how handle such
situations and has helped to prevent such things from occurring on a
larger scale.

Nuclear Energy has reduced the world’s dependency on coal and oil.
Using coal to create electricity results in many more environmental
concerns. The byproducts of coal are excessively worse to the
environment than the byproducts of nuclear energy and nuclear waste is
more easily contained and disposed of than that of coal. Nuclear
waste’s toxicity has a shelf life and an expiration date. Coal power
byproducts do not.

In managing nuclear waste, some products are buried in sealed

containers for either long term or short-term storage. Other products go
through a process of transmutation. Transmutation takes the nuclear
waste and transforms it into a less harmful product or to a product with a
shorter shelf life. All in all, most countries through careful processes are
very responsible about nuclear waste disposal.
Wastes from the nuclear fuel cycle

Radioactive wastes occur at all stages of the nuclear fuel cycle - the process of producing
electricity from nuclear materials. The fuel cycle comprises the mining and milling of the
uranium ore, its processing and fabrication into nuclear fuel, its use in the reactor, the
treatment of the used fuel taken from the reactor after use and finally, disposal of the
wastes.

The fuel cycle is often considered as two parts - the "front end" which stretches from
mining through to the use of uranium in the reactor - and the "back end" which covers the
removal of used fuel from the reactor and its subsequent treatment and disposal. This is
where radioactive wastes are a major issue.

Radioactive Waste

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Nuclear Reactors Create Radioactive Waste That Will Remain Hazardous For 240,000
Years

More than 50 years after splitting the first atom, science has yet to devise a method for adequately
handling long lived radioactive wastes. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission separates wastes into
two broad classifications: high-level and low-level waste.

High-level radioactive waste is the uranium fuel that fires the nuclear reactor. Once removed from
the reactor, the irradiated fuel is considered high-level radioactive waste. Whether in the reactor or
in the large pools adjacent, high-level radioactive waste must be cooled by water to prevent it from
melting down.

Only after spending more than five years cooling in the fuel pool can the radioactive fuel rods be
placed in large dry casks at the reactor site. High-level radioactive waste produced by nuclear power
plants accounts for 95% of the radioactivity generated in the last 50 years from all sources,
including nuclear weapons production. High-level wastes are hazardous because of their high
radiation levels that are capable of producing fatal doses within moments of exposure. Once the
uranium atoms begin to split, neutrons are given off and absorbed by fuel which produces
plutonium and other long lived radioactive wastes.

Plutonium 239 has a half-life of approximately 24,000 years. That means that after 24,000 years
half of the radioactivity contained in the plutonium will have decayed. However, the hazardous life
of radioactive waste is at least ten times the half-life, therefore these wastes will have to be isolated
from the environment for 240,000.

Because nuclear waste will remain hazardous longer than our ability to contain it, it must be
retrievable. Since nuclear waste will remain hazardous for at least 240,000 years it must be
monitored in perpetuity. In the short term, nuclear waste should remain at the reactor site or where
ever it is currently stored. It is both technologically impossible and scientifically irresponsible to
"dispose" of nuclear waste.
Adequately managing these radioactive wastes for 240,000 years is, at best, a daunting proposition.
The nuclear industry has already proven itself incapable of keeping track of its high-level nuclear
waste for even 30 years. High-level radioactive waste has already gone missing from one, if not
several, nuclear reactors. Scientists working on the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain
acknowledge that nuclear waste will be hazardous longer than our ability to isolate it from the
biosphere.

Even attempts to "dispose" of low-level radioactive waste have been an abysmal failure. The only
thing "low level" about low-level radioactive waste is its name. Low-level radioactive waste contains
the same long-lived and highly hazardous radioactive materials in high-level waste merely in lesser
quantities. The NRC basically defines low-level waste as radioactive wastes other than high-level
waste. The government has licensed seven sites in the United States to bury low-level radioactive
wastes. However, only three of these low-level waste dumps are in operation. They are located in
Hanford, Washington; Clive, Utah; and Barnwell, South Carolina. The four closed dumps located in
West Valley New York; Maxey Flats, Kentucky; Beatty, Nevada and Sheffield Illinois have all leaked
radiation in to the surrounding environment.

Concerned citizens have halted attempts to open other low-level waste dumps throughout the
country although the nuclear industry's efforts continue, especially in Texas. Since citizen opposition
to this irresponsible dumping has driven up costs on the nuclear industry, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission has repeatedly attempted to de-regulate radioactive waste so that it can be dumped
into normal land fills and recycled into consumer products.

What makes radioactive waste an international concern?

Many other countries in addition to the United States generate electrical power using
nuclear fuel. Altogether, there are 436 nuclear power plants around the world, operating
in 31 countries. All countries using nuclear power must contend with radioactive waste,
regardless of the number of reactors they have in service. Nuclear energy production
eventually creates waste in the form of spent nuclear fuel. Spent nuclear fuel is depleted
or used fuel from nuclear power plants and research facilities.

Spent nuclear fuel is highly radioactive, and remains so for thousands of years. Isolating
this high-level waste from people and the environment is an important and challenging
issue for countries that use nuclear power. Social, economic, political, technical, and
geographic considerations shape a country’s radioactive waste management decisions.

Australia's waste production

While Australia has no nuclear power producing electricity, it does have well-developed usage of
radioisotopes in medicine, research and industry. Many of these isotopes are produced in the
research reactor at Lucas Heights, near Sydney, then used at hospitals, industrial sites and
laboratories around the country.

Each year Australia produces about 45 cubic metres of radioactive wastes arising from these uses
and from the manufacture of the isotopes - about 40 cubic metres of low-level wastes (LLW), and
5 cubic metres of intermediate-level wastes (ILW).

At present Australia has about 3700 cubic metres of low-level waste awaiting proper disposal,
though annual arisings are small (the 40 cubic metres would be three truckloads). Over half of the
present material is lightly-contaminated soil from CSIRO mineral processing research over 30
years ago.
Basic types of radioactive waste

Generally speaking, radioactive waste can be either long-lived or short-lived. Long-lived

radioactive waste decays at a much slower rate than short-lived waste, and therefore
retains its radioactivity longer. The opposite is true for short-lived wastes. Radioactive
waste can also be categorized as low-level or high-level, according to the amount of
radiation given off.

Low-level radioactive waste

Approximately 90 percent of the radioactive waste produced in the world is low-level, yet
contains only about five percent of all the radioactivity in low- and high-level waste
combined. It can be either short- or long-lived, but most is short-lived. This type of waste
consists of lightly contaminated trash and debris, such as paper, clothing, cleaning
materials, metal and glass equipment, and tools used in commercial and medical nuclear
industries. It also results when nuclear power plants are shut down.

Any radioactive waste that is not spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste,
uranium mining residues, or transuranic waste falls into the low-level waste category.

Many countries bury their low-level, short-lived waste in protected shallow trenches or
concrete-lined bunkers, but some countries choose other options. In the United States,
low-level radioactive waste is sent to disposal sites licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC). Each state, or group of states, is responsible for disposing of and
managing low-level waste. Low-level radioactive waste from United States Department
of Energy (DOE) facilities is buried on the Nevada Test Site.

High-level radioactive waste

High-level waste makes up the smallest volume of radioactive waste, around three
percent of the world’s total, but it contains approximately 95 percent of all the
radioactivity in low- and high-level waste combined. In the United States, high-level
radioactive waste primarily comes from defense-related reprocessing of spent nuclear
fuel. All countries with high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel plan to
eventually dispose of these materials deep underground, in a geologic disposal facility
called a repository.

International consensus on high-level radioactive waste: deep geologic disposal

Underground disposal has been determined by the international scientific community as

the best option for permanently separating high-level radioactive waste from people and
the accessible environment. Scientists and researchers around the world agree that deep
geologic disposal is technically feasible, provides a waste disposal solution that keeps the
public safe, provides for security from intrusion, prevents the diversion of nuclear
materials for harmful purposes, and protects the environment for both the short and long
term.

In addition to the United States, Belgium, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany,
Japan, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom have invested
significant resources in their radioactive waste management programs because of their
historic or anticipated reliance on nuclear energy. Despite some differences in their
programs, they all support deep geologic disposal as the best method for isolating highly
radioactive, long-lived waste.

Of these countries, Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland,

the United Kingdom, and the United States have all performed detailed studies, or
characterizations, drilling numerous boreholes and exploratory shafts and ramps in
underground research laboratories. The data are useful in determining the predicted safety
performance of future nuclear waste repository sites.

Common elements of potential repository systems include the radioactive waste, the
containers enclosing the waste, the tunnels housing the containers, and the geologic
makeup, or type of rock, of the surrounding area. Some countries are individualizing their
repository systems, and many are working in collaboration with other countries to
develop shared technologies.