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Nuclear Waste

Nuclear Waste. High /Low Level Waste. Low level waste: generated at hospitals, educational facilities, nuclear power plants and industry. Examples: radio-chemicals, contaminated gloves, papers, machine parts etc.

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Nuclear Waste

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  1. Nuclear Waste

  2. High /Low Level Waste • Low level waste: generated at hospitals, educational facilities, nuclear power plants and industry. • Examples: radio-chemicals, contaminated gloves, papers, machine parts etc. • Usually disposed of in shallow trenches at privately owned sites in Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Washington.

  3. Low Level Waste disposal

  4. High Level Radioactive Waste • Two major categories: • 1) Fission Products: elements that result from the fission process. A couple of important examples are 137Cs and 90Sr. • 2) Actinides: Formed by neutron absorption by the original fuel. Elements with Atomic numbers greater than 88. Extremely toxic chemically as well as being radioactive. Example: 239Pu.

  5. After 600 years, radioactivity has dropped by a factor of over 10,000.A reasonable storage time is 1000 years.

  6. The largest producer of radioactive waste is the military defense programs • 80,000,000 gallons of liquid waste are stored at Hanford, Washington. (500,000 gallons leaked into the ground over a number of years.) • The waste from 1 years operation of a 1000MW plant is approximate 2 m3.

  7. Spent nuclear fuel is currently stored on site in pools

  8. Long Term Disposal

  9. Yucca Mountain • The Nuclear Waste Policy Act (1982) and its Amendment Act (1987) established a national policy for nuclear waste disposal. • In 1987 the Yucca Mountain, Nevada site was selected as the primary candidate for the long term deposit site. • The site has since been (and still is being) extensively evaluated

  10. Basic Characteristics • The rock formation is 13 million year old volcanic tuff. • Very dry climate (less than 6 in of rain per year.) • The water table is 1700 feet down. • Groundwater travel laterally about 1mile in 3400 to 8300 years. • Nearest surface water is 30 miles away.

  11. Tuff can trap any radionuclides that may leak by adsorption within the rock. • The government already owns the site. • Plans call for the site to start taking deliveries in 2010….we’ll see how it goes.

  12. It just looks like a place to store nuclear waste.

  13. Plans call for multiple barriers • Waste is first encapsulated in glass or ceramic beads. • Waste is placed in stainless steel canisters • Canisters are located in storage rooms in stable rock formations. Rooms are backfilled with material to retard penetration of water

  14. Routes for Nuclear Waste

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