Since the start of the industrial revolution, our main source of energy has been fossil fuels â coal, petroleum, and natural gas. But with the rising issues that arose with their usage, the world has been shifting stance. Over 441 nuclear reactors are currently running in about 31 countries, and they account for 11% of the worldâs electricity production. Additionally, the management and disposal of nuclear waste have become significant concerns in the ongoing discourse surrounding global energy production and sustainability.
Nuclear power plants do not release any direct harmful emissions. Yet â they generate one of the most noxious form of waste that may require millions of years for degradation. Nuclear waste is simply the left-over mass of radioactive materials in a reactor where energy is extracted from nuclear fuels. They are often broadly classified into âlow level wasteâ and âhigh level wasteâ based on their radioactivity level and longevity.
High level waste, which is generated in a much lesser quantity is our main concern as it contains highly radioactive materials that decay with a high longevity â more than 10,000 years. It is estimated that around 20 metric tons of nuclear waste is produced in a year by a typical nuclear power plant. So, how are we dealing with all this waste?
Low level waste is being disposed in several suitable ways: it is being sealed in containers and stored in secluded open sufaces or buried until it poses no threat of radiation, afterwhich it can be discarded as normal wastes. However, we still do not have a proper solution for the disposal of high level waste â so we are still just storing them in temporary units. We have safe storage units such as the âSpent fuel poolâ and âDry cask storageâ. The radioactive waste here is concealed in steel cylinders.
In spent fuel pools, the cylinders are being kept at about 20 feet under water in specially designed pools were they remain for several years till their radioactivity is minimised. The dry cask storage system stores the waste cylinder surrounded by inert gases inside a concrete cask and is used only after nuclear waste has spent at least a year in the spent fuel pool.
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The above methods are internationally accepted but we must remember that they are not meant for permanent storage. Some radioactive waste had been stored in this manner for multiple decades. This entire process operates with a very big risk of radiation leakage, so the waste is stored in isolated places far away from the public. These storage units actually seem to be reliable but they require so much supervision and they can never keep up with the rising nuclear wastes. We need something better, something permanent yet safe.
Multiple countries are working together to come up with a new way to manage their nuclear waste. We have several methods that are being worked on such as deep geological repository, transmutation, ocean floor disposal, space disposal, rock-melting, disposal in ice sheets, and disposal at subduction zones and a few more. However, many of these are found unsuitable due to inefficiency and other management issues.
The most promising method so far is the âdeep geological repositoryâ where the nuclear wastes will be stored in safe containers between ancient impenetrable rocks deep inside the earth. We have many countries currently working on this â they include Yucca Mountain depository in USA and Onkalo site in Finland. You may wonder why âspace disposalâ is not considered a workable method. It is mainly due to economical matters for now, but many scientists are still examining this method. The other methods are also with their own issues realated to safety and inefficiency.
The main aim here is to dispose off the waste in a once-and-for-all fashion, to avoid repeated management.
Many people still debate the safety of relying on nuclear power itself, not just the radioactive waste they generate. Most international organisations seem to be quite confident on the way we are handling nuclear power and its waste inspite of the bitter protests that often come about. In fact, they are actively developing technologies for the progress of our nuclear power.
The World Nuclear Organisation, an eminent international organisation, claims that âthe past five decades of our civil nuclear power experience has not seen much serious health or environmental problemsâ compared to the tragedies that we have been facing with fossil fuels. Nuclear energy remains the best alternative power source we have to replace fossil fuels as of now.
We need to renovate our nuclear waste disposal methods and develop a system that can deliver us more assurance. Burying the nuclear wastes deep inside the Earth may save us from the radiation leakage, but is unlikely that radioactive waste can be shut out completely without any visible side effect.
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perhaps it could be harvested soon and loaded aboad an long range rocket and sent unto rogue stars and new born worlds with an atmospere of which needs to split atoms to repair itself with and the metalic alloy barrels would supply iron steel alloys of which become air born and are sent through the new worlds lava magma and metamophic rock fisher crack system as an filler alike lode gold and other versions is here with the earth and its spent fuel is good to feed its early staged plant and microbial life of which produce air gases oxygen being one of such and the split atoms will help stabiize its atmosphere as it pushes upward and outward much as it did apon our earth in the past yet because those systems have no solar sun keep the atoms and planet warm it will need additives to produce green house effects and the world has an supply of such atomic waiste it would remain in constent supply and even longer slow burn rockets could deliver the material at impact opening the barrels automatic designed correctly my future genisis 2 earth science project would provide atomic waiste companies an cheap way to defend earth and provide managment an alternitive to current storage knowing this material is what those planets need and my right to ask such of companies equipted to ship such things via modern rockets and also have p.h.d equipted scientist to offer insight as to which new star and or world to aim for with in the near future asisting the second genisis project along in the process viaa the scientific method and it is trial and error getting its big dipper nad little dipper split pea soup mixture and its additives correct via our nasa and other companies and universities enviromental sciences specialists imput along the journey.thus this may aswer the question as to what to do with such things question.