CURRENT METHODS OF NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL

By: Chris Neighbor

Nuclear Overview

Produces 806.2 billion kWh, 19.6% of US electricity-2008 Reference to Hidekel’s previous presentation Neutron bombardment of U-235 A tax of 0.1cent is paid per kWh of energy generated to

deal with waste Currently the US has approximately 84,000 metric tons of

fuel rods as waste

High-level waste-Spent fuel rods are “hot” when taken out of the reactor Emit beta and gamma radiation

They are then temporarily stored in onsite pools while some of the radioactive elements with shorter half lives decay Steel and concrete lined

Other elements also have extremely long half lives posing the need to securely store for centuries or even millennia

Waste

Require water tight, geologically stable environment for storage

Stored for thousands of years After ten years of decay a person 1 meter away

from a fuel assembly would receive a dose of 20,000 rems, 5,000 can cause instant incapacition

Radiation causes

Low-level waste Includes rubble and steelwork from decommissioning,

rubber gloves, protective clothing Generally placed in shallow burial Should decay to nonhazardous levels in 10-50 years

The Politics of Nuclear Dr. Steven Chu the new US Secretary of Energy when asked

what his top three strategies were for moving forward with nuclear energy he stated : Accelerate the federal loan guarantee program to restart nuclear power in the

US. Develop a long-range plan for waste disposal Research the potential of reprocessing to greatly reduce the amount and

lifetime of the waste. Since 1987 Yucca Mountain was the proposed site for nuclear

waste storage In 2002 George W. Bush approved the storage of radioactive waste in the Yucca

Mountain Repository, the State of Nevada vetoed the facility, however it was overruled by both houses.

Planned to open in 2010 This planned construction and storage has been eliminated in 2009 under the

Obama administration "while the Administration devises a new strategy toward nuclear waste disposal.”

Terrorist target

Storage-Let’s just bury it Location, Location, Location Yucca- deep repository

Spent fuel pools

Transport- by road to railhead, ships with strengthened hulls and

watertight subdivisions Containers

Watertight, extensive testing- train wreck The waste is vitrified in a borosilicate

Fears Terrorist Target Environmental Concerns

Contamination of groundwater Residential Health Concern

Hanford

Hanford- one of the first sites Learning curve for waste disposal 204,000m3 of high level radioactive waste Spent fuel wasn’t properly stored and leaked into the

groundwater, near Columbia river Is one of the largest environmental cleanup sites

Spent nuclear fuel stored underwater and uncapped in Hanford's K-East Basin

Reprocessing Spent Fuel France’s current program Waste could potentially be lowered by 97% Carter Ban on reprocessing to prevent proliferation

Proliferation is the unlawful diversion of fissile material for military purposes in particular Pu-239

Uranium supply market

Conclusion

US has typically turned to storage as the method of choice for dealing with nuclear waste

The Obama administration

Questions

Ionizing radiation releases concentrated amounts of energy which can break the bonds of biological molecules, can cause cell death, or mitotic inhibition. This can cause death in the case of bone marrow, and the lining of the GI tract. It also causes distortion of DNA.