Nuclear Waste Management Essay -- essays research papers

Nuclear Waste ManagementNuclear energy harnesses the energy released during the change integrity orfusing of atomic nuclei. This heat energy is most often used to convert waterto steam, turning turbines, and generating electricity.However, nuclear energy also has many disadvantages. An casing thatdemonstrated this was the terrible incident at Chernobyl. Here on April 26,1986, one of the reactors of a nuclear power plant went out of control andcaused the worlds worst cognize reactor disaster to date. An experiment that was non properly supervised was conducted with the water-cooling system turned off.This led to the uncontrolled reaction, which in turn caused a steam explosion.The reactors preventative covering was blown off, and approximately 100 millioncuries of radionuclides were released into the atmosphere. Some of theradiation spread across northern Europe and into Great Britain. Sovietstatements indicated that 31 wad died because of the accident, but the numberof radiatio n-caused deaths is still unknown.The same deadly radiation that was present in this explosion is alsopresent in spent fuels. This presents special problems in the handling, storage,and disposal of the depleted uranium. When nuclear fuel is first loaded into areactor, 238U and 235U are present. When in the reactor, the 235U is graduallydepleted and gives rise to fission products, generally, cesium (137Cs) andsteradian (90Sr). These lavishness materials are very unstable and have to undergoradioactive disintegration before they can be transformed into stable isotopes.Each radioactive isotope in this waste material decays at its characteristicrate. A half-life can be less than a second or can be thousands of years long.The isotopes also emit characteristic radiation it can be electromagnetic (X-ray or gamma radiation) or it can consist of particles (alpha, beta, or neutronradiation).Exposure to large doses of ionizing radiation causes characteristicpatterns of injury. Doses are measur ed in rads (1 rad is equal to an amount ofradiation that releases 100 ergs of energy per gram of matter). Doses of more thanthan 4000 rads severely damage the human vascular system, causing cerebral edema(excess fluid), which leads to extreme shock and neurological disturba... ...relatively low in cost compared to storage in a pool of water andcan be moved around if necessary. A nonher way to dispose of radioactive wastesis through geologic isolation. This is the disposal of wastes enigmatical within thecrust of the earth. This form of disposal is attractive because it appears thatwastes can be safely isolated from the biosphere for thousands of years orlonger. Disposal in mined vaults does not require the use of advancedtechnologies, rather the application of what we know today. It is possible tolocate mineral, rock, or other bodies beneath the surface of the earth that willnot be subject to groundwater intrusion. A preferred place would be at least1,500 feet below the earths cr ust, so that it may avoid erosion for thespecified diaphragm of time. None of the preceding methods offers a completesolution to the problem of nuclear waste. They only bury it, temporarilyshoving it out of our current view for a latter(prenominal) generation to solve. Maybe thefuture inhabitants of this world will find a solution to this problem, for as wechose to continue the use of nuclear power, more and more waste will beaccumulated, emitting deadly radiation long after we pass away.