Table of Contents:

Part 1: What is nuclear waste?

Part 2: how to deal with nuclear

waste
Page 3: Storage
Page 5: Recycling
Page 7: Other ways

Part 3: what have you learned?

 What is nuclear waste?
So you don’t know what nuclear waste is. Well before you
learn that, you need to know how to pronounce is. So here
goes. Try saying it aloud a few times. Nuclear waste (New-
clear Way-sta) Great job! Continue reading to find out more
about this unknown topic!

Nuclear waste is the radioactive waste left over from nuclear reactors,
nuclear research projects, and nuclear bomb production. Nuclear
waste is divided into low, medium, and high-level waste by the
amount of radioactivity the waste produces. Although nuclear waste
can be very dangerous, and should not be handled by anyone without
professional training, it is not necessarily more dangerous than
chemical poisons such as ricin and botulin.

The largest source of nuclear waste is naturally occurring radioactive

material (NORM). Nuclear waste from NORM is not usually highly
 radioactive, and might be safe to hold, although it may produce
dangerous levels of radioactive radon gas.

The waste, sometimes called spent fuel, is dangerously radioactive,

and remains so for thousands of years. When it first comes out of the
reactor, it is so toxic that if you stood within a few meters of it while it
was unshielded, you would receive a lethal radioactive dose within a
few seconds and would die of acute radiation sickness within a few
days. Hence, all the worry about it.

The spent fuel is never unshielded. It is kept underwater for a few

years until the radiation decays to levels that can be shielded by
concrete in large storage casks. The final disposal of this spent fuel is
a hot topic, and is often an argument against the use of nuclear
reactors. Options include deep geologic storage and recycling. The
sun would consume it nicely if we could get into space, but since
rockets are so unreliable, we can’t afford to risk atmospheric dispersal
on lift-off.

Okay, so let’s review!

-Nuclear waste (New-Clear Way-Sta) is radioactive waste left over from

a bunch of nuclear things.

-NORM is the largest source of nuclear waste!

-There are high, medium, and low levels of nuclear waste.

-The waste is dangerously radioactive. DON’T TOUCH IT.

Got it? GOOD! Let’s move on!

 Storage:
There are two types of storage for waste: temporary and
permanent. We touched a little on this topic on the previous
page, but to reiterate our point, temporary is storage for a
short time until people find something else to do with it.
Permanent storage is the topic that is currently being
debated, ideas include recycling, shoving it into large
concrete containers, and you know, shooting it into space
and stuff.

Temporary Storage:
The spent fuel rods from a nuclear reactor are the most radioactive of
all nuclear wastes. There is no permanent storage site of spent fuel
rods. Temporary storage is being used while a permanent site is
searched for and prepared.

When the spent fuel rods are removed from the reactor core, they are
extremely hot and have to be cooled down. Most nuclear power plants
have a temporary storage pool next to the reactor and the spent rods
are placed in the pool, so that they can cool down. The pool is not
filled with ordinary water but with boric acid. It helps to absorb some
of the radiation given off by the radioactive nuclei inside the spent
rods. The spent fuel rods are supposed to stay in the pool for only
about 6 months, but because there isn’t a permanent storage site,
they can stay there for many years.
 Permanent Storage:
The most hopeful option to permanently remove waste is burying the
waste in the ground. This is called "deep geological disposal". If a
spent fuel rod is not contained, it could come in contact with humans
and wildlife, which would be dangerous. Also, if the waste is being
stored underground, it should be stored in an area where there is
little groundwater flowing through. If groundwater flows through a
waste storage site, it could erode the containment canisters and carry
waste away into the environment.

When choosing a disposal site, it must have little geological activity.

We wouldn’t want to put a waste disposal site on top of a fault line, in
case an earthquake will occur, which will release the buried waste into
the environment. The waste will probably be stored in large casks
designed to withstand corrosion, impacts, radiation, and temperature
extremes.
 Recycling:
Reprocessing is a series of chemical operations that separates
plutonium and uranium from other nuclear waste contained in the
used (spent) fuel from nuclear power reactors. The separated
plutonium can be used to fuel reactors, but also to make nuclear
weapons.

There are only two commercial reprocessing plants in the world -

Sellafield in the UK and Cogema in France. But Japan is developing
its own plant at Rokkashomura.
 This produces three things - uranium (96%) and
plutonium (1%) and highly radioactive waste (3%.

The reusable uranium is turned into a powdered

form, processed into fuel pellets and sent back for
use in nuclear reactors.

Plutonium can be combined with uranium and

turned into a mixed oxide fuel called Mox.

The leftover waste is turned into a powder and

mixed with glass to produce a pellet and goes into
storage for eventual return to the customer.

Despite the benefits from nuclear reprocessing, reprocessing has been

controversial because of the potential to contribute to nuclear
proliferation (the spread of nuclear weapons), the potential
vulnerability to nuclear terrorism (threat of using nuclear weapons),
and because of its high cost compared to the once-through fuel cycle.
 Other ways:

Sulfide sponge:
Finding Sr2+ ions is like searching for a needle in a haystack: non-
radioactive ions of sodium (Na+) and calcium (Ca2+) are a million
times more numerous, and positively charged and around the same
size. Current nuclear waste treatments are not effective at
distinguishing between these different metals, which can frustrate
cleaning efforts. It works well in both very basic and very acidic
conditions found in different nuclear waste. It is also easy to make
from inexpensive materials. The theory hasn’t been proven yet, but
scientists from Northwestern are looking to spread the idea.
 Algae
U.S. researchers say common freshwater algae can take out
radioactive strontium from water and could be used to clean up
nuclear waste.

Scientists at Northwestern University and Argonne National

Laboratory say Strontium 90 is one of the more dangerous
radioactive fission materials created within a nuclear reactor and is
present in the 80 million gallons of radioactive waste sludge stored in
the United States.

The researchers say Closterium moniliferum, one of the bright green

algae often seen in ponds, can recycle strontium in the form of
barium-strontium-sulfate crystals.

"Nuclear waste cleanup is a problem we have to solve," senior

researcher Derk Joester, who experienced Chernobyl's radioactive
fallout when he was a teenager living in southern Germany, said.
“Even if all the nuclear reactors were to shut down tomorrow, the
existing volume of waste is great, and it is costly to store.We need to
isolate highly radioactive 'high-level' waste from 'low-level' waste," he
said. "The algae offer a mechanism for doing this, which we would
like to understand and optimize."
 Well, what have you learned?

Through lots of evidence that we’ve given you, you should know
pretty much everything about nuclear waste. We made sure to
mention the opinion of smart scientist guys too.

Nuclear waste is a highly debated topic that has influenced society on

a large scale. It is debated not only for its use of power, but also for its
disposal.

From when nuclear waste was first disposed, the scientific world has
come a long way in devising multiple ways to dispose of it, as well as
get the process approved by the society.

The researchers that formulated theories on nuclear waste have made

a large contribution not only to society, but to the scientific world.
This topic will likely be explored further in the future.