Brief 4 - Message Delivery: Nuclear Waste

One of the main arguments that people seem to bring up against nuclear power is the waste that is produced. Little is known about the waste produced or what happens to it. An image is created in our heads of a massive pile of green neon waste glowing somewhere, hopefully the point of this research will actually show the facts behind this imaginary image.

Nuclear power surprisingly produces less waste than that that is produced by fossil fuels, whether this is because there is less nuclear power production in comparison to fossil could be a factor. However for the energy produced there is less waste. Nuclear power takes into consideration the cost of disposing of the product safely. The nuclear fuel which is left behind can be used further as another way of forming energy, this is definitely something worth researching although saying this, the fact that this doesn't happen that often suggests there is something about it which may not be worth it.

The cost of managing the waste is included into the bill of the consumers. There are different types of waste which have different procedures to be disposed of depending on their level of radioactivity. The level of radioactivity decreases over time. Each radioactive nuclide (normally called radionuclide) has an unstable nucleus. For every radionuclide it has a half life, this is the time that it takes for half of its atoms to decay and loose half of its radioactivity. They are easier to handle if they have longer half lives, if they have a longer half life they tend to be alpha or beta emitters. If they have a shorter half life then they emit more radioactive rays which penetrate more, an example of this would be gamma rays.
Radioactive material doesn't stay radioactive forever which is a common misconception it does eventually break down into less harmful elements.

There are four categories that the waste can be split into:

Excempt waste and very low level waste - This isn't harmful to people or the environment, it tends to be things or part of the building structure which has been near nuclear radioactivity such as concrete, bricks or metal etc... This waste is removed along with any domestic waste as it is not seen as a threat.

Low-level waste (LLW) - this includes anything which has been in a radioactive area and contains a small amount of radioactivity which tends to be short lived. It doesn't need special handling and can be buried shallow. However before it is buried it tends to be burnt down, this isn't because of the radioactivity but the sheer size of low level waste.

Intermediate-level waste (ILW) - Requires some shielding as it contains the contaminated materials or chemical mixes like resins, chemical sludges and metal fuel cladding. Any liquids have to be solidified before being disposed of.

High-level waste (HLW) - This is the burning of uranium in the reactor. Because of how radioactive it is as well as the heat it emits it requires shielding and also cooling. HLW is over 95% of the waste produced! HLW can be separated into long-lived and short lived lives this then makes for a more efficient disposal.