Radioactive wastes are waste types containing radioactive chemical elements that do not have a practical purpose. There are many Waste streams consisting of a number of waste types. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. A chemical element is a type of Atom that is distinguished by its Atomic number; that is by the number of Protons in its nucleus. They are sometimes the products of nuclear processes, such as nuclear fission. Nuclear fission is the splitting of the nucleus of an atom into parts (lighter nuclei) often producing Free neutrons and other smaller nuclei which may However, industries not directly connected to the nuclear industry can produce large quantities of radioactive waste. It has been estimated, for instance, that the past 20 years the oil-producing endeavors of the United States have accumulated eight million tons of radioactive wastes. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[1] The majority of radioactive waste is "low-level waste", meaning it contains low levels of radioactivity per mass or volume. Low-level waste (LLW is a term used to describe Nuclear waste that does not fit into the categorical definitions for high-level waste (HLW spent nuclear fuel (SNF transuranic Mass is a fundamental concept in Physics, roughly corresponding to the Intuitive idea of how much Matter there is in an object The volume of any solid plasma vacuum or theoretical object is how much three- Dimensional space it occupies often quantified numerically This type of waste often consists of used protective clothing, which is only slightly contaminated but still dangerous in case of radioactive contamination of a human body through ingestion, inhalation, absorption, or injection. Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an Organism. In Animals it normally is accomplished by taking in the substance through the Mouth into the Inhalation (also known as respiration) is the movement of air from the external environment through the air ways and into the Alveoli. Absorption is a route by which substances can exit the body through the Skin. An injection is an infusion method of putting Liquid into the Body, usually with a hollow needle and a Syringe which is pierced through In the United States alone, the Department of Energy states that there are "millions of gallons of radioactive waste" as well as "thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel and material" and also "huge quantities of contaminated soil and water". The United States Department of Energy ( DOE) is a Cabinet -level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is Nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a Nuclear reactor (usually at a Nuclear power ^[2] Despite these copious quantities of waste, the DOE has a goal of cleaning all presently contaminated sites successfully by 2025. ^[2] The Fernald, Ohio site for example had "31 million pounds of uranium product", "2. The Fernald Feed Materials Production Center (commonly referred to simply as Fernald) was a Uranium processing facility located near the rural town of Fernald in 5 billion pounds of waste", "2. 75 million cubic yards of contaminated soil and debris", and a "223 acre portion of the underlying Great Miami Aquifer had uranium levels above drinking standards". ^[2] The United States currently has at least 108 sites it currently designates as areas that are contaminated and unusable, sometimes many thousands of acres^[3][2] The DOE wishes to try and clean or mitigate many or all by 2025, however the task can be difficult and it acknowledges that some will never be completely remediated, and just in one of these 108 larger designations, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, there were for example at least "167 known contaminant release sites" in one of the three subdivisions of the 37,000-acre (150 km²) site. Oak Ridge National Laboratory ( ORNL) is a multiprogram science and technology National laboratory managed for the United States Department of Energy by The acre is a unit of Area in a number of different systems including the imperial and U Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of ^[2] Some of the U. S. sites were smaller in nature, however, and cleanup issues were simpler to address, and the DOE has successfully completed cleanup, or at least closure, of several sites. ^[2]

The issue of disposal methods for nuclear waste was one of the most pressing current problems the international nuclear industry faced when trying to establish a long term energy production plan, yet there was hope it could be safely solved. A recent research report on the Nuclear Industry perspective of the current state of scientific knowledge in predicting the extent that waste would find its way from the deep burial facility - back to soil and drinking water (such that it presents a direct threat to the health of human beings - as well as to other forms of life) is presented in a document from the IAEA (The International Atomic Energy Agency) - which was published in October 2007 This document states "The capacity to model all the effects involved in the dissolution of the waste form, in conditions similar to the disposal site, is the final goal of all the research undertaken by many research groups over many years. The International Atomic Energy Agency ( IAEA) is an international organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its As we will see in this report, this kind of investigation is far from being finished" [1]. In the United States, the DOE acknowledges much progress in addressing the waste problems of the industry, and successful remediation of some contaminated sites, yet also major uncertainties and sometimes complications and setbacks in handling the issue properly, cost effectively, and in the projected time frame. ^[2] In other countries with lower ability or will to maintain environmental integrity the issue would be even more problematic.

Contents 1 The nature and significance of radioactive waste 1.1 Physics 1.2 Chemistry 1.3 Pharmacokinetics 1.4 Philosophy 2 Sources of waste 2.1 Nuclear fuel cycle 2.1.1 Front end 2.1.2 Back end 2.1.3 Proliferation concerns 2.2 Nuclear weapons reprocessing 2.3 Medical 2.4 Industrial 2.5 Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) 2.5.1 Coal 2.5.2 Oil and gas 3 Types of radioactive waste 4 Management of waste 4.1 Initial treatment of waste 4.1.1 Vitrification 4.1.2 Ion exchange 4.1.3 Synroc 4.2 Long term management of waste 4.2.1 Storage 4.2.2 Geological disposal 4.2.3 Transmutation 4.2.4 Reuse of waste 4.2.5 Space disposal 5 Accidents involving radioactive waste 6 Radioactive waste in fiction and popular culture 7 See also 8 References 9 External links 9.1 Accidents 10 Further reading

The nature and significance of radioactive waste

Radioactive waste typically comprises a number of radioisotopes: unstable configurations of elements that decay, emitting ionizing radiation which can be harmful to human health and to the environment. A radionuclide is an Atom with an unstable nucleus, which is a nucleus characterized by excess energy which is available to be imparted either to a newly-created Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. Image talkNew_radiation_symbol_ISO_21482svg for details --> Ionizing radiation Those isotopes emit different types and levels of radiation, which last for different periods of time.

Physics

Medium-lived fission products
Property: t½ Unit: (a)		Yield (%)	Q * (KeV)	βγ *
155Eu	4. Fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large nucleus fissions. Half-Life (computer-game page here It's already listed in the disambiguation page Annum is one form of the Latin noun meaning Year, not a form normally used for derivatives in modern languages the accusative singular See also Fission product Nuclear fission splits a heavy nucleus such as Uranium or Plutonium into two lighter nuclei which are called Fission The decay energy is the Energy released by a Nuclear decay. The energy difference of the Reactants is often written as Q: where Q Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. Europium-155 is a Radioisotope or Europium and Fission product with a Halflife of 4 76	. 0803	252	βγ
85Kr	10. Krypton 85 ( 85Kr) is a Radioisotope of Krypton. It decays into rubidium-85 with a Half-life of 10 76	. 2180	687	βγ
113mCd	14. Cadmium-113m is a Cadmium Radioisotope and Nuclear isomer with a Halflife of 14 1	. 0008	316	β
90Sr	28. Strontium-90 (90Sr is a Radioactive Isotope of Strontium, with a Half life of 28 9	4. 505	2826	β
137Cs	30. Caesium-137 (also spelled cesium is a radioactive Isotope of Caesium which is formed mainly by Nuclear fission. 23	6. 337	1176	βγ
121mSn	43. Tin-121m is a radioisotope and Nuclear isomer of Tin with a Halflife of 43 9	. 00005	390	βγ
151Sm	90	. is a Radioisotope of Samarium with a Half-life of 90 years undergoing low-energy Beta decay, and has a Fission product yield of 5314	77	β

Long-lived fission products
Property: t½ Unit: (Ma)		Yield (%)	Q * (KeV)	βγ *
99Tc	. Evolution of radioactivity in nuclear waste Nuclear fission produces Fission products, as well as Actinides from Nuclear fuel nuclei that capture Fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large nucleus fissions. Half-Life (computer-game page here It's already listed in the disambiguation page Annum is one form of the Latin noun meaning Year, not a form normally used for derivatives in modern languages the accusative singular See also Fission product Nuclear fission splits a heavy nucleus such as Uranium or Plutonium into two lighter nuclei which are called Fission The decay energy is the Energy released by a Nuclear decay. The energy difference of the Reactants is often written as Q: where Q Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable Atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and Radiation. Technetium-99 (99Tc is an isotope of Technetium which decays with a Half-life of 211000 years emitting soft beta rays but no gamma rays and has a 211	6. 1385	294	β
126Sn	. Tin-126 is a Radioisotope of Tin and one of only 7 long-lived Fission products While tin-126's Halflife of 230000 years translates to a 230	. 1084	4050	βγ
79Se	. Selenium-79 is a Radioisotope of Selenium present in Spent nuclear fuel and the wastes resulting from reprocessing this fuel 295	. 0447	151	β
93Zr	1. 93Zr is a Radioisotope of Zirconium with a Half life of 153 million years decaying with a low-energy Beta particle to Niobium 53	5. 4575	91	βγ
135Cs	2. Caesium-135 is a Caesium Radioisotope with a Half-life of 23 million years undergoing low-energy Beta decay to Barium -135 3	6. 9110	269	β
107Pd	6. Palladium -107 is the second longest lived ( Halflife of 65 million years and least radioactive ( Decay energy only 33 KeV, Specific activity 5	1. 2499	33	β
129I	15. Iodine-129 (129I is a Radioisotope of Iodine. Formation and decay 129I is primarily formed from the Fission 7	. 8410	194	βγ

The radioactivity of all nuclear waste diminishes with time. All radioisotopes contained in the waste have a half-life - the time it takes for any radionuclide to lose half of its radioactivity and eventually all radioactive waste decays into non-radioactive elements. Half-Life (computer-game page here It's already listed in the disambiguation page Certain radioactive elements (such as plutonium-239) in “spent” fuel will remain hazardous to humans and other living beings for hundreds of thousands of years. Other radioisotopes will remain hazardous for millions of years. Thus, these wastes must be shielded for centuries and isolated from the living environment for hundreds of millennia. ^[4] Some elements, such as Iodine-131, have a short half-life (around 8 days in this case) and thus they will cease to be a problem much more quickly than other, longer-lived, decay products but their activity is much greater initially. Iodine-131 (131I, also called radioiodine, is a Radioisotope of Iodine which has medical and pharmaceutical uses The two tables show some of the major radioisotopes, their half-lives, and their radiation yield as a proportion of the yield of fission of Uranium-235. See also Fission product Nuclear fission splits a heavy nucleus such as Uranium or Plutonium into two lighter nuclei which are called Fission

The faster a radioisotope decays, the more radioactive it will be. A radionuclide is an Atom with an unstable nucleus, which is a nucleus characterized by excess energy which is available to be imparted either to a newly-created The energy and the type of the ionizing radiation emitted by a pure radioactive substance are important factors in deciding how dangerous it will be. Image talkNew_radiation_symbol_ISO_21482svg for details --> Ionizing radiation The chemical properties of the radioactive element will determine how mobile the substance is and how likely it is to spread into the environment and contaminate human bodies. A chemical element is a type of Atom that is distinguished by its Atomic number; that is by the number of Protons in its nucleus. This is further complicated by the fact that many radioisotopes do not decay immediately to a stable state but rather to a radioactive decay product leading to decay chains. In Nuclear physics, a decay product, also known as a daughter product, daughter isotope or daughter nuclide, is a Nuclide In Nuclear science, the decay chain refers to the Radioactive decay of different discrete radioactive decay products as a chained series of transformations

Chemistry

The chemical properties of the radioactive substance and the other substances found within (and near) the waste store has a great effect upon the ability of the waste to cause harm to humans or other organisms. For instance TcO₄^- tends to adsorb on the surfaces of steel objects which reduces its ability to move out of the waste store in water. The pertechnetate ( technetate(VII) ion is an Oxoanion with the chemical formula TcO4&minus Adsorption is a process that occurs when a gas or liquid Solute accumulates on the surface of a solid or a liquid (adsorbent forming a film of molecules or atoms (the

Pharmacokinetics

Exposure to high levels of radioactive waste may cause serious harm or death. Death is the termination of the biological functions that define living Organisms It refers both to a specific Treatment of an adult animal with radiation or some other mutation-causing effect, such as a cytotoxic anti-cancer drug, may cause cancer in the animal. For the 2008 British film by Noel Clarke see Adulthood (film. Radiation, as in Physics, is Energy in the form of waves or moving Subatomic particles emitted by an atom or other body as it changes from a higher energy In biology mutations are changes to the Nucleotide sequence of the Genetic material of an organism Cancer (medical term Malignant Neoplasm) is a class of Diseases in which a group of cells display uncontrolled A drug, broadly speaking is any chemical substance that when absorbed into the body In humans it has been calculated that a 1 sievert dose has a 5% chance of causing cancer and a 1% chance of causing a mutation in a gamete which can be passed to the next generation. The sievert (symbol Sv is the SI derived unit of dose equivalent. A gamete (from Ancient Greek γαμέτης; translated gamete = wife gametes = husband is a cell that fuses with another gamete If a developing organism such as an unborn child is irradiated, then it is possible to induce a birth defect but it is unlikely that this defect will be in a gamete or a gamete forming cell. Unborn Child is the sixth studio album by American pop / folk duo Seals and Crofts. A congenital disorder is a disease or disorder that is present at birth The cell is the structural and functional unit of all known living Organisms It is the smallest unit of an organism that is classified as living and is often called

Depending on the decay mode and the pharmacokinetics of an element (how the body processes it and how quickly), the threat due to exposure to a given activity of a radioisotope will differ. Pharmacokinetics (in Greek: “pharmacon” meaning drug and “kinetikos” meaning putting in motion the study of time dependency sometimes abbreviated as “PK” is a A radionuclide is an Atom with an unstable nucleus, which is a nucleus characterized by excess energy which is available to be imparted either to a newly-created For instance Iodine-131 is a short-lived beta and gamma emitter but because it concentrates in the thyroid gland, it is more able to cause injury than cesium-137 which, being water soluble, is rapidly excreted in urine. Iodine-131 (131I, also called radioiodine, is a Radioisotope of Iodine which has medical and pharmaceutical uses In Nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of Radioactive decay in which a Beta particle (an Electron or a Positron) is emitted Gamma rays (denoted as &gamma) are a form of Electromagnetic radiation or light emission of frequencies produced by sub-atomic particle interactions The thyroid is one of the largest Endocrine glands in the body Caesium or cesium (ˈsiːziəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Cs and Atomic number 55 In a similar way, the alpha emitting actinides and radium are considered very harmful as they tend to have long biological half-lives and their radiation has a high linear energy transfer value. Alpha decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an Atomic nucleus emits an Alpha particle (two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle Radium (ˈreɪdiəm is a radioactive Chemical element which has the symbol Ra and Atomic number 88 The biological half-life of a substance is the time it takes for a substance (drug radioactive nuclide or other to lose half of its pharmacologic physiologic or radiologic activity Because of such differences, the rules determining biological injury differ widely according to the radioisotope, and sometimes also the nature of the chemical compound which contains the radioisotope.

Philosophy

The main objective in managing and disposing of radioactive (or other) waste is to protect people and the environment. This means isolating or diluting the waste so that the rate or concentration of any radionuclide returned to the biosphere is harmless. The biosphere is the broadest level of ecological study the global sum of all Ecosystems. To achieve this the preferred technology to date has been deep and secure burial for the more dangerous wastes; transmutation, long-term retrievable storage, and removal to space have also been suggested. Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one Chemical element or Isotope into another which occurs through Nuclear reactions Natural transmutation occurs Management options for waste are discussed below.

Radioactivity by definition reduces over time, so in principle the waste needs to be isolated for a particular period of time until its components have decayed such that it no longer poses a threat. In practice this can mean periods of hundreds of thousands of years, depending on the nature of the waste involved.

Though an affirmative answer is often taken for granted, the question as to whether or not we should endeavor to avoid causing harm to remote future generations, perhaps thousands upon thousands of years hence, is essentially one which must be dealt with by philosophy.

Sources of waste

Radioactive waste comes from a number of sources. The majority originates from the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear weapon reprocessing. However, other sources include medical and industrial wastes, as well as naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM) that can be concentrated as a result of the processing or consumption of coal, oil and gas, and some minerals.

Nuclear fuel cycle

Main articles: Nuclear fuel cycle and Spent nuclear fuel

Front end

Waste from the front end of the nuclear fuel cycle is usually alpha emitting waste from the extraction of uranium. The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of Nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is Nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a Nuclear reactor (usually at a Nuclear power The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of Nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages It often contains radium and its decay products. Radium (ˈreɪdiəm is a radioactive Chemical element which has the symbol Ra and Atomic number 88

Uranium dioxide (UO₂) concentrate from mining is not very radioactive - only a thousand or so times as radioactive as the granite used in buildings. Uranium dioxide (2 an Oxide of Uranium, also known as urania or uranic oxide is a black radioactive crystalline powder Granite (ˈɡrænɪt is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, Felsic, igneous rock. It is refined from yellowcake (U₃O₈), then converted to uranium hexafluoride gas (UF₆). For the falsified documents see Yellowcake forgery. Yellowcakes (also called urania) are Uranium concentrates obtained Uranium hexafluoride (UF6 referred to as "hex" in the nuclear industry is a compound used in the Uranium enrichment process that produces As a gas, it undergoes enrichment to increase the U-235 content from 0. Enriched uranium is a kind of Uranium in which the percent composition of Uranium-235 has been increased through the process of Isotope separation. Uranium-235 is an isotope of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope Uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding fission 7% to about 4. 4% (LEU). It is then turned into a hard ceramic oxide (UO₂) for assembly as reactor fuel elements. The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικός ( keramikos)

The main by-product of enrichment is depleted uranium (DU), principally the U-238 isotope, with a U-235 content of ~0. Depleted uranium (DU is Uranium primarily composed of the Isotope Uranium-238 (U-238 3%. It is stored, either as UF₆ or as U₃O₈. Some is used in applications where its extremely high density makes it valuable, such as the keels of yachts, and anti-tank shells. Anti-tank refers to any method of combating military Armored fighting vehicles notably Tanks The most common anti-tank systems A kinetic energy penetrator (also known as a KE weapon) is a type of Ammunition which like a Bullet, does not contain Explosives and uses It is also used (with recycled plutonium) for making mixed oxide fuel (MOX) and to dilute highly enriched uranium from weapons stockpiles which is now being redirected to become reactor fuel. Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, is a blend of oxides of Plutonium and Natural uranium, Reprocessed uranium, or Depleted uranium which behaves This dilution, also called downblending, means that any nation or group that acquired the finished fuel would have to repeat the (very expensive and complex) enrichment process before assembling a weapon. Enriched uranium is a kind of Uranium in which the percent composition of Uranium-235 has been increased through the process of Isotope separation.

Back end

The back end of the nuclear fuel cycle, mostly spent fuel rods, contains fission products that emit beta and gamma radiation, and actinides that emit alpha particles, such as uranium-234, neptunium-237, plutonium-238 and americium-241, and even sometimes some neutron emitters such as californium (Cf). Nuclear fuel is any material that can be consumed to derive Nuclear energy, by analogy to chemical Fuel that is burned to derive energy Fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large nucleus fissions. History of the actinoid series From the earlier known chemical properties of actinium (89 up to uranium (92 indicating a relation to the Transition metals it was generally Alpha particles (named after and denoted by the first letter in the Greek alphabet, α consist of two Protons and two Neutrons bound together into a Uranium-234 is an isotope of Uranium. In Natural uranium and uranium ore 234U occurs as an indirect Decay product of 238U Neptunium ( Np) has no stable isotopes A standard atomic mass cannot be given Plutonium 238, is a Radioactive isotope of Plutonium with a half-life of 87 Americium ( Am) has no stable Isotopes A standard atomic mass cannot be given Californium (ˌkælɪˈforniəm is a Metallic Chemical element with the symbol Cf and Atomic number 98 These isotopes are formed in nuclear reactors. This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power. A nuclear reactor is a device in which Nuclear chain reactions are initiated controlled

It is important to distinguish the processing of uranium to make fuel from the reprocessing of used fuel. Nuclear reprocessing separates components of Spent nuclear fuel such as Reprocessed uranium Plutonium Minor Used fuel contains the highly radioactive products of fission (see high level waste below). Many of these are neutron absorbers, called neutron poisons in this context. A nuclear poison, also called a neutron poison is a substance with a large neutron absorption cross-section in applications such as Nuclear reactors These eventually build up to a level where they absorb so many neutrons that the chain reaction stops, even with the control rods completely removed. At that point the fuel has to be replaced in the reactor with fresh fuel, even though there is still a substantial quantity of uranium-235 and plutonium present. Uranium-235 is an isotope of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope Uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding fission In the United States, this used fuel is stored, while in countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and Japan, the fuel is reprocessed to remove the fission products, and the fuel can then be re-used. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Japan topics. This reprocessing involves handling highly radioactive materials, and the fission products removed from the fuel are a concentrated form of high-level waste as are the chemicals used in the process.

Proliferation concerns

Main article: nuclear proliferation

When dealing with uranium and plutonium, the possibility that they may be used to build nuclear weapons is often a concern. Nuclear proliferation is a term now used to describe the spread of Nuclear weapons, fissile material and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Active nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons stockpiles are very carefully safeguarded and controlled. However, high-level waste from nuclear reactors may contain plutonium. Ordinarily, this plutonium is reactor-grade plutonium, containing a mixture of plutonium-239 (highly suitable for building nuclear weapons), plutonium-240 (an undesirable contaminant and highly radioactive), plutonium-241, and plutonium-238; these isotopes are difficult to separate. Plutonium-239 is an Isotope of Plutonium. Plutonium-239 is the primary Fissile isotope used for the production of Nuclear weapons although Plutonium-240 (Pu-240 is an Isotope of the Metal Plutonium formed when Plutonium-239 captures a Neutron. Plutonium-241 (Pu-241 is an Isotope of Plutonium formed when Plutonium-240 captures a Neutron. Plutonium 238, is a Radioactive isotope of Plutonium with a half-life of 87 Moreover, high-level waste is full of highly radioactive fission products. Fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large nucleus fissions. However, most fission products are relatively short-lived. This is a concern since if the waste is stored, perhaps in deep geological storage, over many years the fission products decay, decreasing the radioactivity of the waste and making the plutonium easier to access. The deep geological repository concept involves the placement of long-lived Radioactive waste, often Spent nuclear fuel, in rooms excavated deep within stable low-permeability Moreover, the undesirable contaminant Pu-240 decays faster than the Pu-239, and thus the quality of the bomb material increases with time (although its quantity decreases during that time as well). Thus, some have argued, as time passes, these deep storage areas have the potential to become "plutonium mines", from which material for nuclear weapons can be acquired with relatively little difficulty. Critics of the latter idea point out that the half-life of Pu-240 is 6,560 years and Pu-239 is 24,110 years, and thus the relative enrichment of one isotope to the other with time occurs with a half-life of 9,000 years (that is, it takes 9000 years for the fraction of Pu-240 in a sample of mixed plutonium isotopes, to spontaneously decrease by half-- a typical enrichment needed to turn reactor-grade into weapons-grade Pu). Thus "weapons grade plutonium mines" would be a problem for the very far future (>9,000 years from now), so that there remains a great deal of time for technology to advance to solve this problem, before it becomes acute.

Pu-239 decays to U-235 which is suitable for weapons and which has a very long half life (roughly 10⁹ years). Uranium-235 is an isotope of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope Uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding fission Thus plutonium may decay and leave uranium-235. However, modern reactors are only moderately enriched with U-235 relative to U-238, so the U-238 continues to serve as denaturation agent for any U-235 produced by plutonium decay.

One solution to this problem is to recycle the plutonium and use it as a fuel e. g. in fast reactors. A fast neutron reactor or simply a fast reactor is a category of Nuclear reactor in which the fission Chain reaction is sustained by Fast neutrons But in the minds of some, the very existence of the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant needed to separate the plutonium from the other elements represents a proliferation concern. Nuclear reprocessing separates components of Spent nuclear fuel such as Reprocessed uranium Plutonium Minor In pyrometallurgical fast reactors, the waste generated is an actinide compound that cannot be used for nuclear weapons. The Integral Fast Reactor or Advanced Liquid-Metal Reactor is a design for a nuclear Fast reactor with a specialized Nuclear fuel cycle.

Nuclear weapons reprocessing

Waste from nuclear weapons reprocessing (as opposed to production, which requires primary processing from reactor fuel) is unlikely to contain much beta or gamma activity other than tritium and americium. A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from Nuclear reactions either fission or a combination of fission and fusion. Tritium (ˈtɹɪtiəm symbol or, also known as Hydrogen-3) is a radioactive Isotope of Hydrogen. Americium (ˌæməˈrɪsiəm is a Synthetic element that has the symbol Am and Atomic number 95 It is more likely to contain alpha emitting actinides such as Pu-239 which is a fissile material used in bombs, plus some material with much higher specific activities, such as Pu-238 or Po.

In the past the neutron trigger for a bomb tended to be beryllium and a high activity alpha emitter such as polonium; an alternative to polonium is Pu-238. Beryllium (bəˈrɪliəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Be and Atomic number 4 Polonium (pəˈloʊniəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Po and Atomic number 84 discovered in 1898 by Marie and Pierre Curie Plutonium 238, is a Radioactive isotope of Plutonium with a half-life of 87 For reasons of national security, details of the design of modern bombs are normally not released to the open literature. It is likely however that a D-T fusion reaction in either an electrically driven device or a D-T fusion reaction driven by the chemical explosives would be used to start up a modern device. In Physics and Nuclear chemistry, nuclear fusion is the process by which multiple- like charged atomic nuclei join together to form a heavier nucleus

Some designs might well contain a radioisotope thermoelectric generator using Pu-238 to provide a longlasting source of electrical power for the electronics in the device. A radioisotope thermoelectric generator ( RTG, RITEG) is an Electrical generator which obtains its power from Radioactive decay.

It is likely that the fissile material of an old bomb which is due for refitting will contain decay products of the plutonium isotopes used in it, these are likely to include alpha-emitting Np-236 from Pu-240 impurities, plus some U-235 from decay of the Pu-239; however, due to the relatively long half-life of these Pu isotopes, these wastes from radioactive decay of bomb core material would be very small, and in any case, far less dangerous (even in terms of simple radioactivity) than the Pu-239 itself.

The beta decay of Pu-241 forms Am-241; the in-growth of americium is likely to be a greater problem than the decay of Pu-239 and Pu-240 as the americium is a gamma emitter (increasing external-exposure to workers) and is an alpha emitter which can cause the generation of heat. Plutonium-241 (Pu-241 is an Isotope of Plutonium formed when Plutonium-240 captures a Neutron. Americium ( Am) has no stable Isotopes A standard atomic mass cannot be given In Physics, heat, symbolized by Q, is Energy transferred from one body or system to another due to a difference in Temperature The plutonium could be separated from the americium by several different processes; these would include pyrochemical processes and aqueous/organic solvent extraction. Nuclear reprocessing separates components of Spent nuclear fuel such as Reprocessed uranium Plutonium Minor Liquid-liquid extraction, also known as solvent extraction and partitioning, is a method to separate compounds based on their relative solubilities in two A truncated PUREX type extraction process would be one possible method of making the separation.

Medical

Radioactive medical waste tends to contain beta particle and gamma ray emitters. Medical waste, also known as clinical waste, normally refers to waste products that cannot be considered general waste produced from healthcare premises such as hospitals Beta particles are high-energy high-speed Electrons or Positrons emitted by certain types of Radioactive nuclei such as Potassium -40 Gamma rays (denoted as &gamma) are a form of Electromagnetic radiation or light emission of frequencies produced by sub-atomic particle interactions It can be divided into two main classes. In diagnostic nuclear medicine a number of short-lived gamma emitters such as technetium-99m are used. Nuclear medicine is a branch of Medicine and Medical imaging that uses the nuclear properties of matter in diagnosis and therapy Technetium-99m is a metastable Nuclear isomer of technetium-99 symbolized as 99mTc Many of these can be disposed of by leaving it to decay for a short time before disposal as normal trash. Other isotopes used in medicine, with half-lives in parentheses:

• Y-90, used for treating lymphoma (2. Yttrium (ˈɪtriəm is a Chemical element with symbol Y and Atomic number 39 Lymphoma a type of Neoplasm that originates in Lymphocytes (a type of White blood cell in the vertebrate Immune system) 7 days)
• I-131, used for thyroid function tests and for treating thyroid cancer (8. Iodine-131 (131I, also called radioiodine, is a Radioisotope of Iodine which has medical and pharmaceutical uses The thyroid is one of the largest Endocrine glands in the body Thyroid cancer refers to any of four kinds of malignant Tumors of the Thyroid gland papillary, follicular, medullary or 0 days)
• Sr-89, used for treating bone cancer, intravenous injection (52 days)
• Ir-192, used for brachytherapy (74 days)
• Co-60, used for brachytherapy and external radiotherapy (5. Strontium (ˈstrɒntiəm /ˈstrɒnʃiəm/) is a Chemical element with the symbol Sr and the Atomic number 38 Bone tumor is an inexact term which can be used for both Benign and Malignant abnormal growths found in bone but is most commonly used for primary Tumors In Pharmacology and Toxicology, a route Iridium (ɪˈrɪdiəm is a Chemical element that has the symbol Ir and Atomic number 77 Brachytherapy (from the Greek brachy, meaning "short" also known as sealed source radiotherapy or endocurietherapy, is a form of Cobalt (ˈkoʊbɒlt is a hard lustrous silver-grey Metal, a Chemical element with symbol Co. 3 years)
• Cs-137, used for brachytherapy, external radiotherapy (30 years)

Industrial

Industrial source waste can contain alpha, beta, neutron or gamma emitters. Caesium-137 (also spelled cesium is a radioactive Isotope of Caesium which is formed mainly by Nuclear fission. For other uses of this term see Industry (disambiguation An industry (from Latin industrius, "diligent industrious" Alpha decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an Atomic nucleus emits an Alpha particle (two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle In Nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of Radioactive decay in which a Beta particle (an Electron or a Positron) is emitted Neutron emission is a type of Radioactive decay of atoms containing excess Neutrons in which a neutron is simply ejected from the nucleus Gamma emitters are used in radiography while neutron emitting sources are used in a range of applications, such as oil well logging. For medical radiography see Radiology Radiography is the use of X-rays to view unseen or hard-to-image objects West Texas PumpjackJPG|thumb|right|300px|This Pumpjack located south of Midland TX is a common sight in West Texas. [2]

Naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM)

Processing of substances containing natural radioactivity; this is often known as NORM. A lot of this waste is alpha particle-emitting matter from the decay chains of uranium and thorium. Alpha particles (named after and denoted by the first letter in the Greek alphabet, α consist of two Protons and two Neutrons bound together into a Uranium (jʊˈreɪniəm is a silvery-gray Metallic Chemical element in the Thorium (ˈθɔːriəm is a Chemical element with the symbol Th and Atomic number 90 The main source of radiation in the human body is potassium-40 (⁴⁰K). Potassium (pəˈtæsiəm is a Chemical element. It has the symbol K (kalium from qalīy Atomic number 19 and Atomic mass 39 Potassium ( K) has 24 known Isotopes Three isotopes occur naturally 39K (93

Coal

Coal contains a small amount of radioactive uranium, barium, thorium and potassium, but, in the case of pure coal, this is significantly less than the average concentration of those elements in the Earth's crust. In Geology, a crust is the outermost solid shell of a planet or moon However, the surrounding strata, if shale or mudstone, often contains slightly more than average and this may also be reflected in the ash content of 'dirty' coals ^[5][6]. The more active ash minerals become concentrated in the fly ash precisely because they do not burn well ^[6]. Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the Combustion of Coal. However, the radioactivity of fly ash is still very low. It is about the same as black shale and is less than phosphate rocks, but is more of a concern because a small amount of the fly ash ends up in the atmosphere where it can be inhaled. Shale (also called mudstone) is a fine-grained Sedimentary rock whose original constituents were Clay minerals or Muds It is characterized by A phosphate, an Inorganic chemical, is a salt of Phosphoric acid. ^[7]

Oil and gas

Residues from the oil and gas industry often contain radium and its daughters. Petroleum ( L petroleum, from Greek πετρέλαιον, lit Natural gas is a Gaseous Fossil fuel consisting primarily of Methane but including significant quantities of Ethane, Propane, Radium (ˈreɪdiəm is a radioactive Chemical element which has the symbol Ra and Atomic number 88 The sulphate scale from an oil well can be very radium rich, while the water, oil and gas from a well often contains radon. Radon (ˈreɪdɒn is the Chemical element that has the symbol Rn and Atomic number 86 The radon decays to form solid radioisotopes which form coatings on the inside of pipework. In an oil processing plant the area of the plant where propane is processed is often one of the more contaminated areas of the plant as radon has a similar boiling point as propane. Propane is a three- Carbon Alkane, normally a gas but compressible to a liquid that is transportable ^[8]

Types of radioactive waste

Although not significantly radioactive, uranium mill tailings are waste. They are byproduct material from the rough processing of uranium-bearing ore. They are sometimes referred to as 11(e)2 wastes, from the section of the U. S. Atomic Energy Act that defines them. Uranium mill tailings typically also contain chemically-hazardous heavy metals such as lead and arsenic. Characteristics Lead has a dull luster and is a dense, Ductile, very soft highly Arsenic (ˈɑrsənɪk is a Chemical element that has the symbol As and Atomic number of 33 Vast mounds of uranium mill tailings are left at many old mining sites, especially in Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States.

Low level waste (LLW) is generated from hospitals and industry, as well as the nuclear fuel cycle. Low-level waste (LLW is a term used to describe Nuclear waste that does not fit into the categorical definitions for high-level waste (HLW spent nuclear fuel (SNF transuranic The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of Nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages It comprises paper, rags, tools, clothing, filters, etc. , which contain small amounts of mostly short-lived radioactivity. Commonly, LLW is designated as such as a precautionary measure if it originated from any region of an 'Active Area', which frequently includes offices with only a remote possibility of being contaminated with radioactive materials. Such LLW typically exhibits no higher radioactivity than one would expect from the same material disposed of in a non-active area, such as a normal office block. Some high activity LLW requires shielding during handling and transport but most LLW is suitable for shallow land burial. To reduce its volume, it is often compacted or incinerated before disposal. Low level waste is divided into four classes, class A, B, C and GTCC, which means "Greater Than Class C".

Intermediate level waste (ILW) contains higher amounts of radioactivity and in some cases requires shielding. ILW includes resins, chemical sludge and metal reactor fuel cladding, as well as contaminated materials from reactor decommissioning. Resin, not to be confused with Rosin, is a Hydrocarbon Secretion of many Plants particularly coniferous trees. SLUDGE (Scripting Language for Unhindered Development of a Gaming Environment is a open source adventure game engine developed by Hungry Software Nuclear fuel is any material that can be consumed to derive Nuclear energy, by analogy to chemical Fuel that is burned to derive energy It may be solidified in concrete or bitumen for disposal. As a general rule, short-lived waste (mainly non-fuel materials from reactors) is buried in shallow repositories, while long-lived waste (from fuel and fuel-reprocessing) is deposited in deep underground facilities. The deep geological repository concept involves the placement of long-lived Radioactive waste, often Spent nuclear fuel, in rooms excavated deep within stable low-permeability U. S. regulations do not define this category of waste; the term is used in Europe and elsewhere.

High level waste (HLW) is produced by nuclear reactors. High level waste (HLW is a type of Nuclear waste that arises from the use of uranium fuel in a Nuclear reactor and Nuclear weapons processing This article is a subarticle of Nuclear power. A nuclear reactor is a device in which Nuclear chain reactions are initiated controlled It contains fission products and transuranic elements generated in the reactor core. Fission products are the atomic fragments left after a large nucleus fissions. In Chemistry, transuranium elements (also known as transuranic elements) are the Chemical elements with Atomic numbers greater than 92 (the atomic A nuclear reactor core is that portion of a Nuclear reactor containing the Nuclear fuel components where the nuclear reactions take place It is highly radioactive and often thermally hot. LLW and ILW accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity produced in the process of nuclear electricity generation. Electricity generation is the process of converting non-electrical Energy to Electricity. The amount of HLW worldwide is currently increasing by about 12,000 metric tons every year, which is the equival to about 100 double-decker busses or a two-story structure built on top of a basketball court. ^[9]

Transuranic waste (TRUW) as defined by U. S. regulations is, without regard to form or origin, waste that is contaminated with alpha-emitting transuranic radionuclides with half-lives greater than 20 years, and concentrations greater than 100 nCi/g (3. A CURIE (short for Compact URI) is an abbreviated URI expressed in CURIE syntax and may be found in both XML and non-XML grammars 7 MBq/kg), excluding High Level Waste. The becquerel (symbol Bq) is the SI derived unit of radioactivity. Elements that have an atomic number greater than uranium are called transuranic ("beyond uranium"). See also List of elements by atomic number In Chemistry and Physics, the atomic number (also known as the proton Because of their long half-lives, TRUW is disposed more cautiously than either low level or intermediate level waste. In the U. S. it arises mainly from weapons production, and consists of clothing, tools, rags, residues, debris and other items contaminated with small amounts of radioactive elements (mainly plutonium).

Under U. S. law, TRUW is further categorized into "contact-handled" (CH) and "remote-handled" (RH) on the basis of radiation dose measured at the surface of the waste container. CH TRUW has a surface dose rate not greater than 200 mrem per hour (2 mSv/h), whereas RH TRUW has a surface dose rate of 200 mrem per hour (2 mSv/h) or greater. The Röntgen ( roentgen) equivalent in man or rem (symbol rem) The sievert (symbol Sv is the SI derived unit of dose equivalent. The Röntgen ( roentgen) equivalent in man or rem (symbol rem) CH TRUW does not have the very high radioactivity of high level waste, nor its high heat generation, but RH TRUW can be highly radioactive, with surface dose rates up to 1000000 mrem per hour (10000 mSv/h). The Röntgen ( roentgen) equivalent in man or rem (symbol rem) The United States currently permanently disposes of TRUW generated from nuclear power plants and military facilities at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is the world's second underground repository (after closure of the Germany 's Asse Salt Mine in ^[10]

Management of waste

Nuclear waste requires sophisticated treatment and management in order to successfully isolate it from interacting with the biosphere. The biosphere is the broadest level of ecological study the global sum of all Ecosystems. This usually necessitates treatment, followed by a long-term management strategy involving storage, disposal or transformation of the waste into a non-toxic form^[11].

Initial treatment of waste

Vitrification

Long-term storage of radioactive waste requires the stabilization of the waste into a form which will not react, nor degrade, for extended periods of time. One way to do this is through vitrification. Vitrification is a process of converting a material into a Glass -like Amorphous solid that is free from any Crystalline structure either by the quick removal Currently at Sellafield the high-level waste (PUREX first cycle raffinate) is mixed with sugar and then calcined. Sellafield is a nuclear processing and former electricity generating site close to the village of Seascale on the coast of the Irish Sea in Cumbria In Solvent extraction, a raffinate is a Liquid stream that remains after the extraction with the immiscible liquid to remove solutes from the Sugar is a class of edible Crystalline substances mainly Sucrose, Lactose, and Fructose. Calcination involves passing the waste through a heated, rotating tube. Calcination (also referred to as calcining) is a thermal treatment process applied to ores and other solid materials in order to bring about a Thermal decomposition The purposes of calcination are to evaporate the water from the waste, and de-nitrate the fission products to assist the stability of the glass produced.

The 'calcine' generated is fed continuously into an induction heated furnace with fragmented glass[3]. Glass in the common sense refers to a Hard, Brittle, transparent Solid, such as that used for Windows many The resulting glass is a new substance in which the waste products are bonded into the glass matrix when it solidifies. This product, as a molten fluid, is poured into stainless steel cylindrical containers ("cylinders") in a batch process. In Metallurgy, stainless steel is defined as a Steel Alloy with a minimum of 11 When cooled, the fluid solidifies ("vitrifies") into the glass. Such glass, after being formed, is very highly resistant to water. [4] According to the ITU, it will require about 1 million years for 10% of such glass to dissolve in water.

After filling a cylinder, a seal is welded onto the cylinder. The cylinder is then washed. After being inspected for external contamination, the steel cylinder is stored, usually in an underground repository. In this form, the waste products are expected to be immobilized for a very long period of time (many thousands of years).

The glass inside a cylinder is usually a black glossy substance. All this work (in the United Kingdom) is done using hot cell systems. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Shielded containments are commonly referred to as Hot Cells. The word "hot" refers to Radioactive. The sugar is added to control the ruthenium chemistry and to stop the formation of the volatile RuO₄ containing radio ruthenium. Ruthenium (ruːˈθiːniəm is a Chemical element that has the symbol Ru and Atomic number 44 Ruthenium -106 has a Halflife of 37359 days and a Fission product with a yield of 0 In the west, the glass is normally a borosilicate glass (similar to Pyrex), while in the former Soviet bloc it is normal to use a phosphate glass. Borosilicate glass is a type of Glass with the main glass-forming constituents Silica and Boron oxide. Pyrex is a brand name for glassware introduced by Corning Incorporated in 1915 A soviet (сове́т, "council" originally was a workers' local council in late Imperial Russia. A phosphate, an Inorganic chemical, is a salt of Phosphoric acid. The amount of fission products in the glass must be limited because some (palladium, the other Pt group metals, and tellurium) tend to form metallic phases which separate from the glass. Palladium (pronounced \pəˈleɪdiəm\ is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal that was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston, who named it palladium after the Tellurium (tɪˈlʊəriəm/ /tɛl- is a Chemical element that has the symbol Te and Atomic number 52 In Germany a vitrification plant is in use; this is treating the waste from a small demonstration reprocessing plant which has since been closed down.

Ion exchange

It is common for medium active wastes in the nuclear industry to be treated with ion exchange or other means to concentrate the radioactivity into a small volume. Ion exchange is an exchange of Ions between two Electrolytes or between an electrolyte Solution and a complex. The much less radioactive bulk (after treatment) is often then discharged. For instance, it is possible to use a ferric hydroxide floc to remove radioactive metals from aqueous mixtures [5]. Ferric is a term that means containing or having to do with Iron, derived from the Latin word ferrum, meaning "iron" In Chemistry, hydroxide is the most common name for the diatomic Anion OH− consisting of Oxygen and Hydrogen After the radioisotopes are absorbed onto the ferric hydroxide, the resulting sludge can be placed in a metal drum before being mixed with cement to form a solid waste form. ^[12] In order to get better long-term performance (mechanical stability) from such forms, they may be made from a mixture of fly ash, or blast furnace slag, and portland cement, instead of normal concrete (made with portland cement, gravel and sand). Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the Combustion of Coal. A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical Furnace used for Smelting to produce metals generally Iron. Slag is the By-product of Smelting Ore to purify Metals They can be considered to be a mixture of metal Oxides however Portland cement is the most common type of Cement in general usage in many parts of the world as it is a basic ingredient of Concrete, mortar, Stucco Concrete is a construction material composed of Cement (commonly Portland cement) as well as other cementitious materials such as Fly ash and Slag Portland cement is the most common type of Cement in general usage in many parts of the world as it is a basic ingredient of Concrete, mortar, Stucco

Synroc

The Australian Synroc (synthetic rock) is a more sophisticated way to immobilize such waste, and this process may eventually come into commercial use for civil wastes (it is currently being developed for U. Synroc, a Portmanteau from "synthetic rock" is a possible means of safely storing and disposing of Radioactive waste. S. military wastes). Synroc was invented by the late Prof Ted Ringwood (a geochemist) at the Australian National University. The field of geochemistry involves study of the chemical composition of the Earth and other Planets chemical processes and reactions that govern the composition The Australian National University, commonly abbreviated to ANU, is a public Research university situated in Canberra, Australia. ^[13] The Synroc contains pyrochlore and cryptomelane type minerals. Pyrochlore ( Na, Ca)2 Nb 2 O 6( OH, F) is a solid solution between the niobium end member (pyrochlore The original form of Synroc (Synroc C) was designed for the liquid high level waste (PUREX raffinate) from a light water reactor. See also Nuclear power "LWR" redirects here See also LWR (disambiguation A light water reactor or LWR is The main minerals in this Synroc are hollandite (BaAl₂Ti₆O₁₆), zirconolite (CaZrTi₂O₇) and perovskite (CaTiO₃). Zirconolite is a mineral Calcium Zirconium Titanate; formula CaZrTi2O7 A perovskite is any material with the same type of Crystal structure as Calcium titanium oxide (CaTiO3 known as the perovskite structure The zirconolite and perovskite are hosts for the actinides. History of the actinoid series From the earlier known chemical properties of actinium (89 up to uranium (92 indicating a relation to the Transition metals it was generally The strontium and barium will be fixed in the perovskite. Strontium (ˈstrɒntiəm /ˈstrɒnʃiəm/) is a Chemical element with the symbol Sr and the Atomic number 38 Barium (ˈbɛəriəm is a Chemical element. It has the symbol Ba, and Atomic number 56 The caesium will be fixed in the hollandite. Caesium or cesium (ˈsiːziəm is the Chemical element with the symbol Cs and Atomic number 55

Long term management of waste

We are talking here of durations ranging from 10,000 to 1,000,000 years^[14], according to studies based on the effect of estimated radiation doses^[15]. It is worthwhile noting that state of the art only allows geological considerations for such long periods. Researchers suggest that forecasts of health detriment for such periods should be examined critically^[16]. Practical studies only consider up to 100 years as far as effective planning^[17] and cost evaluations^[18] are concerned.

Storage

High-level radioactive waste is stored temporarily in spent fuel pools and in dry cask storage facilities. Spent fuel pool (SFP are storage pools for Spent fuel from Nuclear reactors Typically 40 or more feet deep with the bottom 14 feet equipped with storage racks designed Dry cask storage is a method of storing high-level Radioactive waste, such as Spent nuclear fuel that has already been cooled in the Spent fuel pool for This allows the shorter-lived isotopes to decay before further handling.

In 1997, in the 20 countries which account for most of the world's nuclear power generation, spent fuel storage capacity at the reactors was 148,000 tonnes, with 59% of this utilized. However, a number of nuclear power plants in countries that do not reprocess had nearly filled their spent fuel pools, and resorted to Away-from-reactor storage (AFRS). AFRS capacity in 1997 was 78,000 tonnes, with 44% utilized, and annual additions of about 12,000 tonnes. AFRS cannot be expanded forever, and the lead times for final disposal sites have proven to be unpredictable (see below).

In 1989 and 1992, France commissioned commercial plants to vitrify HLW left over from reprocessing oxide fuel, although there are adequate facilities elsewhere, notably in the United Kingdom and Belgium. Vitrification is a process of converting a material into a Glass -like Amorphous solid that is free from any Crystalline structure either by the quick removal The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those The capacity of these western European plants is 2,500 canisters (1000 t) a year, and some have been operating for 18 years.

Geological disposal

The process of selecting appropriate deep final repositories for high level waste and spent fuel is now under way in several countries with the first expected to be commissioned some time after 2010. The deep geological repository concept involves the placement of long-lived Radioactive waste, often Spent nuclear fuel, in rooms excavated deep within stable low-permeability However, many people remain uncomfortable with the immediate stewardship cessation of this management system. In Switzerland, the Grimsel Test Site is an international research facility investigating the open questions in radioactive waste disposal ([6]). Sweden is well advanced with plans for direct disposal of spent fuel, since its Parliament decided that this is acceptably safe, using the KBS-3 technology. "Sverige" redirects here For other uses see Sweden (disambiguation and Sverige (disambiguation. KBS-3 (an abbreviation of kärnbränslesäkerhet, nuclear fuel safety is a technology for disposal of high-level Radioactive waste developed in Sweden In Germany, there is a political discussion about the search for an Endlager (final repository) for radioactive waste, accompanied by loud protests especially in the Gorleben village in the Wendland area, which was seen ideal for the final repository until 1990 because of its location next to the border to the former German Democratic Republic. Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Gorleben is a small municipality ( Gemeinde) in the Gartow region of the Lüchow-Dannenberg district in the far north-east of Lüchow-Dannenberg is a district in Lower Saxony, Germany which is usually referred to as Hannoversches Wendland or Wendland The German Democratic Republic ( GDR; Deutsche Demokratische Republik DDR; commonly known in English as East Germany) was a Socialist state Gorleben is presently being used to store radioactive waste non-permanently, with a decision on final disposal to be made at some future time. The U. S. has opted for a final repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but this project is widely opposed and is a hotly debated topic, with some of the main concerns being the long distance transportation of the waste from across the United States to this area, and the possibility of accidents over time that could occur. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in the United States is the world's first underground repository for transuranic waste. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, or WIPP, is the world's second underground repository (after closure of the Germany 's Asse Salt Mine in There is also a proposal for an international HLW repository in optimum geology, with Australia or Russia as possible locations, although the proposal for a global repository for Australia has raised fierce domestic political objections.

The Canadian government, for example, is seriously considering this method of disposal, known as the Deep Geological Disposal concept. Under the current plan, a vault is to be dug 500 to 1000 meters below ground, under the Canadian Shield, one of the most stable landforms on the planet. The Canadian Shield &mdash also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien (French &mdash is a large geological shield covered by The vaults are to be dug inside geological formations known as batholiths, formed about a billion years ago. A batholith (from Greek bathos, depth + lithos, rock is a large emplacement of Igneous intrusive (also called plutonic rock that forms The used fuel bundles will be encased in a corrosion-resistant container, and further surrounded by a layer of buffer material, possibly of a special kind of clay (bentonite clay). Bentonite is an absorbent Aluminium phyllosilicate generally impure Clay consisting mostly of Montmorillonite. The case itself is designed to last for thousands of years, while the clay would further slow the corrosion rates of the container. The batholiths themselves are chosen for their low ground-water movement rates, geological stability, and low economic value. ^[19]

The Finnish government has already started building a vault to store nuclear waste 500 to 1000 meters below ground, not far from the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant. Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant is one of Finland's two Nuclear power plants the other being the two-unit VVER Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant.

In the EU, Covra is negotiating about a European-wide waste disposal system with single disposal sites that can be used by several EU-countries. ^[20] This EU-wide storage possibility is being researched under the SAPIERR-2 program. ^[21]

Storing high level nuclear waste above ground for a century or so is considered appropriate by many scientists. This allows for the material to be more easily observed and any problems detected and managed, while the decay over this time period significantly reduces the level of radioactivity and the associated harmful effects to the container material. It is also considered likely that over the next century newer materials will be developed which will not break down as quickly when exposed to a high neutron flux thus increasing the longevity of the container once it is permanently buried.

Sea-based options for disposal of radioactive waste ^[22] include burial beneath a stable abyssal plain, burial in a subduction zone that would slowly carry the waste downward into the Earth's mantle, and burial beneath a remote natural or human-made island. Abyssal plains are flat or very gently sloping areas of the deep Ocean basin floor In Geology, a subduction zone is an area on Earth where two tectonic plates meet and move towards one another with one sliding underneath the other The mantle is a part of an Astronomical object. The interior of the Earth, similar to the other Terrestrial planets, is Chemically divided While these approaches all have merit and would facilitate an international solution to the vexing problem of disposal of radioactive waste, they are currently not being seriously considered because of the legal barrier of the Law of the Sea and because in North America and Europe sea-based burial has become taboo from fear that such a repository could leak and cause widespread damage. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea ( UNCLOS) also called the Law of the Sea Convention or the Law of the Sea treaty is the international agreement that resulted Dumping of radioactive waste from ships has reinforced this concern, as has contamination of islands in the Pacific. However, sea-based approaches might come under consideration in the future by individual countries or groups of countries that cannot find other acceptable solutions.

Article 1 (Definitions), 7. , of the 1996 Protocol to the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter, (the London Dumping Convention) states:

“Sea” means all marine waters other than the internal waters of States, as well as the seabed and the subsoil thereof; it does no include sub-seabed repositories accessed only from land. ”

A subduction zone accessed from land as is the embodiment of the subductive waste disposal method http://www3.telus.net/subductionservices/ is not nor ever has been prohibited by international agreement.

This method has been described as the most viable means of disposing of radioactive ^[23] and the state-of-the-art in nuclear waste disposal technology. ^[24]

Another approach termed Remix & Return ^[25] would blend high-level waste with uranium mine and mill tailings down to the level of the original radioactivity of the uranium ore, then replace it in empty uranium mines. Uranium mining is the process of extraction of Uranium Ore from the ground This approach has the merits of totally eliminating the problem of high-level waste, of providing jobs for miners who would double as disposal staff, and of facilitating a cradle-to-grave cycle for all radioactive materials.

Transmutation

Main article: Nuclear transmutation

There have been proposals for reactors that consume nuclear waste and transmute it to other, less-harmful nuclear waste. Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one Chemical element or Isotope into another which occurs through Nuclear reactions Natural transmutation occurs In particular, the Integral Fast Reactor was a proposed nuclear reactor with a nuclear fuel cycle that produced no transuranic waste and in fact, could consume transuranic waste. The Integral Fast Reactor or Advanced Liquid-Metal Reactor is a design for a nuclear Fast reactor with a specialized Nuclear fuel cycle. The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of Nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages It proceeded as far as large-scale tests but was then canceled by the U. S. Government. Another approach, considered safer but requiring more development, is to dedicate subcritical reactors to the transmutation of the left-over transuranic elements. A Subcritical reactor is a nuclear fission reactor that produces fission without achieving Criticality. Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one Chemical element or Isotope into another which occurs through Nuclear reactions Natural transmutation occurs

Transmutation was banned in the US on April 1977 by President Carter due to the danger of plutonium proliferation ^[26]however, President Reagan rescinded the ban in 1981 ^[27]. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Due to the economic losses and risks, construction of reprocessing plants during this time did not resume. Due to high energy demand, work on the method has continued in the EU. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in This has resulted in a practical nuclear research reactor called Myrrha in which transmutation is possible. Additionally, a new research program called ACTINET has been started in the EU to make transmutation possible on a large, industrial scale. The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in According to President Bush's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) of 2007, the US is now actively promoting research on transmutation technologies needed to markedly reduce the problem of nuclear waste treatment. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the ^[28]

There have also been theoretical studies involving the use of fusion reactors as so called "actinide burners" where a fusion reactor plasma such as in a tokamak, could be "doped" with a small amount of the "minor" transuranic atoms which would be transmuted (meaning fissioned in the actinide case) to lighter elements upon their successive bombardment by the very high energy neutrons produced by the fusion of deuterium and tritium in the reactor. Fusion power is power generated by Nuclear fusion reactions In this kind of reaction two light atomic nuclei fuse In Physics and Chemistry, plasma is an Ionized Gas, in which a certain proportion of Electrons are free rather than being bound A tokamak is a machine producing a toroidal Magnetic field for confining a plasma. Deuterium, also called heavy hydrogen, is a Stable isotope of Hydrogen with a Natural abundance in the Oceans of Earth Tritium (ˈtɹɪtiəm symbol or, also known as Hydrogen-3) is a radioactive Isotope of Hydrogen. It was recently found by a study done at MIT, that only 2 or 3 fusion reactors with parameters similar to that of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) could transmute the entire annual minor actinide production from all of the light water reactors presently operating in the United States fleet while simultaneously generating approximately 1 gigawatt of power from each reactor[7]. ITER is an international Tokamak ( Magnetic confinement fusion) research/engineering proposal for an experimental project that will help to make the transition from The minor actinides are the Actinide elements in used Nuclear fuel other than Uranium and Plutonium, which are termed the Major actinides See also Nuclear power "LWR" redirects here See also LWR (disambiguation A light water reactor or LWR is List of nuclear reactors is a comprehensive annotated list of all the Nuclear reactors of the world sorted by country The watt (symbol W) is the SI derived unit of power, equal to one Joule of energy per Second.

Reuse of waste

Another option is to find applications of the isotopes in nuclear waste so as to reuse them. Reuse is using an item more than once This includes conventional reuse where the item is used again for the same function and new-life reuse where it is used for a new function [8] . Already, caesium-137, strontium-90 and a few other isotopes are extracted for certain industrial applications such as food irradiation and radioisotope thermoelectric generators. Caesium-137 (also spelled cesium is a radioactive Isotope of Caesium which is formed mainly by Nuclear fission. Strontium-90 (90Sr is a Radioactive Isotope of Strontium, with a Half life of 28 Food irradiation is the process of exposing food to Ionizing radiation in order to destroy Microorganisms Bacteria, Viruses or Insects A radioisotope thermoelectric generator ( RTG, RITEG) is an Electrical generator which obtains its power from Radioactive decay. While re-use does not eliminate the need to manage radioisotopes, it may reduce the quantity of waste produced.

Space disposal

Space disposal is an attractive notion because it permanently removes nuclear waste from the environment. However, it has significant disadvantages, not least of which is the potential for catastrophic failure of a launch vehicle. In Spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a Rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into Outer space. Furthermore, the high number of launches that would be required — due to the fact that no individual rocket would be able to carry very much of the material relative to the material needed to be disposed of—makes the proposal impractical (for both economic and risk-based reasons). To further complicate matters, international agreements on the regulation of such a program would need to be established. [9]

It has been suggested that through the use of a stationary launch system many of the risks of catastrophic launch failure could be avoided. A promising concept is the use of high power lasers to launch "indestructible" containers from the ground into space. Such a system would require no rocket propellant, with the launch vehicle's payload making up a near entirety of the vehicle's mass. Without the use of rocket fuel on board there would be little chance of the vehicle exploding. [10]

Another form of safe removal would possibly be the space elevator. A space elevator is a proposed structure designed to transport Material from a celestial body 's Surface into space. Encasing the waste in glassified form inside a steel shell 9 inches (230 mm) thick, which in turn is tiled with shuttle tile to its exterior. If the launch vehicle fails just before reaching orbit, the waste ball will safely re-enter the earth's atmosphere. The steel shell would deform on impact, but would not rupture due to the density of the shell. Also, this would potentially allow the waste to be shot into the Sun. ^[29]

Accidents involving radioactive waste

A number of incidents have occurred when radioactive material was disposed of improperly, shielding during transport was defective, or when it was simply abandoned or even stolen from a waste store. ^[30] In the former Soviet Union, waste stored in Lake Karachay was blown over the area during a dust storm after the lake had partly dried out. Lake Karachay (Карача́й sometimes spelled Karachai is a small lake in the southern Ural mountains in western Russia. ^[31] At Maxey Flat, a low-level radioactive waste facility located in Kentucky, containment trenches covered with dirt, instead of steel or cement, collapsed under heavy rainfall into the trenches and filled with water. Location Maxey Flat is a hilltop community in Kentucky approximately northwest of Morehead and approximately south of Flemingsburg on County Road 1895 The Commonwealth of Kentucky ( is a state located in the East Central United States of America. The water that invaded the trenches became radioactive and had to be disposed of at the Maxey Flat facility itself. Location Maxey Flat is a hilltop community in Kentucky approximately northwest of Morehead and approximately south of Flemingsburg on County Road 1895 In other cases of radioactive waste accidents, lakes or ponds with radioactive waste accidentally overflowed into the rivers during exceptional storms.

Scavenging of abandoned radioactive material has been the cause of several other cases of radiation exposure, mostly in developing nations, which may have less regulation of dangerous substances (and sometimes less general education about radioactivity and its hazards) and a market for scavenged goods and scrap metal. Radioactive contamination is the uncontrolled distribution of radioactive material in a given environment Developing countries are countries that haven't reached Western-style standards of democratic government free market economy industrialization social programs and human rights guaranties The scavengers and those who buy the material are almost always unaware that the material is radioactive and it is selected for its aesthetics or scrap value. Aesthetics or esthetics ( also spelled æsthetics) is commonly known as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values sometimes called ^[32] Irresponsibility on the part of the radioactive material's owners, usually a hospital, university or military, and the absence of regulation concerning radioactive waste, or a lack of enforcement of such regulations, have been significant factors in radiation exposures. For an example of an accident involving radioactive scrap originating from a hospital see the Goiânia accident. The Goiânia accident was an incident of Radioactive contamination in central Brazil that killed several people and injured many others ^[33]

Transportation accidents involving spent nuclear fuel from power plants are unlikely to have serious consequences due to the strength of the spent nuclear fuel shipping casks. Spent nuclear fuel shipping casks are used to transport spent nuclear fuel used in Nuclear power plants and research reactors to disposal sites such as the to-be-opened

Radioactive waste in fiction and popular culture

In fiction, radioactive waste is often cited as the reason for gaining super-human powers and abilities. Fiction is the telling of stories which are not real More specifically fiction is an imaginative form of Narrative, one of the four basic Rhetorical modes. A superhuman is an entity with intelligence or abilities exceeding normal human standards An example of this fictional scenario is the 1981 movie "Modern Problems" in which actor Chevy Chase portrays a jealous, harried air traffic controller Max Fiedler; Max Fiedler, recently dumped by his girlfriend, comes into contact with nuclear waste and is granted the power of telekinesis, which he uses to not only win her back, but to gain a little revenge. Modern Problems is a 1981 comedy film written and directed by Ken Shapiro and starring Chevy Chase, Patti D'Arbanville and Dabney Cornelius Crane “Chevy” Chase (born October 8 1943 is an American Emmy Award-winning Comedian, Writer, and television and film

In reality, of course, exposure to radioactive waste instead would lead to illness and/or death.

In the science fiction television series, "Space: 1999," a massive nuclear waste dump on the Moon explodes, hurtling the Moon, and the inhabitants of "Moonbase Alpha" out of the Solar System at interstellar speeds. Space 1999 ( ITC Entertainment and RAI, 1975-77 is a British science-fiction television series Moonbase Alpha is a fictional Moon base and the main setting in the science fiction television series Space 1999. The Solar System consists of the Sun and those celestial objects bound to it by Gravity.

In the television comedy series Family Guy, the Griffin family all get super-human powers from toxic waste. Family Guy is an animated American television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane that airs on Fox and regularly on other When the local mayor Adam West tries to do the same thing, he gets lymphoma. Lymphoma a type of Neoplasm that originates in Lymphocytes (a type of White blood cell in the vertebrate Immune system)

In The Simpsons, many mutant three-eyed fish live near the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. In biology mutations are changes to the Nucleotide sequence of the Genetic material of an organism The owner of the plant, Mr Burns, is also repeatedly shown disposing of his plants waste in an improper manner, either dumping it in the river or hiding it in trees at the local park.

See also

References

Fentiman, Audeen W. and James H. Saling. Radioactive Waste Management. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2002. Second ed. An overview of waste from the nuclear fuel cycle was written by B. V. Babu and S. Karthik, Energy Education Science and Technology, 2005, 14, 93-102.

External links

• Key Radionuclides and Generation Processes (DOE)
• Alsos Digital Library - Radioactive Waste (bibliography)
• Belgian Nuclear Research Centre - Activities (documents and links)
• Belgian Nuclear Research Centre - Scientific Reports (documents)
• Critical Hour: Three Mile Island, The Nuclear Legacy, And National Security (PDF)
• Environmental Protection Agency - Yucca Mountain (documents)
• Grist.org - How to tell future generations about nuclear waste (article)
• A discussion on the secrecy surrounding plans for radioactive waste in the UK (article)
• International Atomic Energy Agency - Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology Program (program objectives)
• International Atomic Energy Agency - Internet Directory of Nuclear Resources (links)
• Nuclear Files.org - Yucca Mountain (documents)
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Radioactive Waste (documents)
• Nuclear Regulatory Commission - Spent Fuel Heat Generation Calculation (guide)
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory - Coal Combustion: Nuclear Resource or Danger (document)
• Radwaste.org (links)
• Radwaste Blog (weblog)
• Radwaste Solutions (magazine)
• Surviving on Nuclear Waste (book)
• The Nuclear Energy Option - Hazards of High-Level Radioactive Waste (book)
• UNEP Earthwatch - Radioactive Waste (documents and links)
• Uranium Information Center - Radioactive Waste (briefing papers)
• United States Geological Survey - Radioactive Elements in Coal and Fly Ash (document)
• World Nuclear Association - Radioactive Waste (briefing papers)
• Radioactive Waste Management, by UIC
• [http://www.plazm.com/magazine/features/archive/nuclear-time; Nuclear Time:

On Markers to Deter Inadvertent Human Intrusion into the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant Storage Facility; Plazm magazine]

• Guardian article on Waste Disposal
• [http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/te_1563_web.pdf Ability to Predict the Extent that Waste

would find it way from the Deep Burial Facility- "this investigation is far from being finished"]

Accidents

• Nuclear Waste Drums Lose Lids in Japan Quake - Kyodo. The United States Department of Energy ( DOE) is a Cabinet -level department of the United States government responsible for energy policy

Further reading

Going the Distance? The Safe Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in the United States [11] by the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB) ISBN-10: 0-309-10004-6

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