POSTER TEMPLATE BY:

www.PosterPresentations.com

The odds of a nuclear catastrophe may be small, but they are real. Although fission technology has become safer over the years, the truth of the matter remains simple; accidents happen. Whether it is human error, a force of nature, or even deliberate assault, no amount of engineering can eliminate the possible danger associated with nuclear plants. With 104 nuclear reactors currently operating within the U.S., most of them nearly 33 years old and near large populations, many would agree that it is only a matter of time until one of these nuclear reactors endangers the lives of U.S. citizens.

Nuclear Meltdowns ☢  Meltdowns occur when the temperature of the reactor core is unable to be controlled ☢  If temperatures are not managed, fuel rod casings can be destroyed, releasing radioactive fuel, causing side-reactions, and raising temperatures even further ☢  If oxidized nuclear fuel reaches its 2,800ºC melting point, it can then burn through the steel-concrete infrastructure and travel into the earth

Causes of Meltdowns ☢  Human error (Chernobyl, 1986) ☢  System malfunction (Three Mile Island, 1979) ☢  Natural forces (Fukushima Daiichi, 2011)

Dangers of Meltdowns ☢  Materials produced by nuclear meltdowns are lethally radioactive to the point of death upon exposure ☢  Contacting ground water, molten nuclear fuel can both poison public waterways and form a geyser of dangerously radioactive material ☢  Radioactive mist can travel for miles, and material dissolved in waterways can be carried endlessly ☢  Dispersion of the material may lower its concentration, but even a small amount accumulated in the body can cause cell damage, mutations, and eventually cancers ☢  Settling into soil, radioactive particles remain harmful for thousands of years and can be transmitted to humans via plants and grazing animals

Even though nuclear power produces considerably low amounts of waste compared to other fuel-based energy sources, the harmful radioactivity of this waste causes it to be immensely problematic. With the inexistence of a permanent repository facility forcing waste to be inefficiently stored and disposed of, waste has been found leaking from containers and contaminating the soil of areas throughout the U.S.

Classes of Waste ☢  High-level: spent nuclear fuel (harmful upon exposure) ☢  Medium-level: mill tailings via fuel refining (harmful after prolonged or repeated exposure) ☢  Low-level: materials exposed to radiation (relatively harmless without constant exposure)

Storage of Waste ☢  After waste is removed from a reactor or refinery, it is then placed into either transportable steel barrels or a large-capacity storage tank ☢  Waste is normally a semisolid mixture of different byproducts consisting of the same radioactive class ☢  As waste is highly corrosive, no containers can be used for permanent storage (typically only 20 years) ☢  While a permanent repository has yet been built, millions of gallons of waste has been found leaking from currently expired containers ☢  Soil-contaminating leakage can lead to disease in nearby wildlife via plant consumption, poisoning of water reservoirs, and pollution of underground waterways leading to domestic waters ☢  Over 2,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste are produced in the U.S. each year

Yucca Mountain Repository In 1982, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act

gave the Department of Energy the responsibility of developing a geological repository for the permanent storage of high-level nuclear waste. In 2002, Congress designated Yucca Mountain as the location where this repository would be built.

In 2010, while construction was 48% complete, President Obama, Secretary Chu, and the DOE decided to withdraw “with prejudice” the project’s licensing application. With over 57,000 tons of high-level waste needing more efficient storage, Washington state and the Tri-Cities filed petitions to prevent the license application withdraw due to violation of law. As equal amounts of authority are both for and against the termination of the repository, the NRC is currently postponing adjudication.

Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant, New York

In 1994, the Long Island Lighting Company completely decommissioned their 820 MW nuclear power plant due to cost overruns equivalent to over $10 billion in modern currency. The reactor took 11 years to construct and only operated from 1985 to 1989. The losses of this project were recovered by implementing a 3% surcharge on NY’s electricity bills for the next 30 years.

Indian Point Energy Center, New York

Built in the 1950’s, the three-unit power plant of Buchanan, NY, was not designed to withstand seismic activity. Earthquakes in Buchanan have only reached a magnitude of 3.8 in the past, but many still speculate the safety of the local plant. Resting on the east bank of the Hudson River and neighboring a population of 17 million citizens within a 50-mile radius, a meltdown of this facility would be catastrophic.

Hanford Nuclear Facility, Washington

Constructed in 1943 for developing weapons-grade plutonium, the facility now stores over 50 million gallons of nuclear waste, two-thirds of the country’s high-level waste. Since the 1980’s, waste containers at this site have been found leaking and have released over one million gallons of waste into the surrounding soil. This waste is expected to eventually reach the Columbia River, and efforts are continually being made to prevent future leaks, a likely possibility since most of the storage tanks are decades past expiration.

Figure 4: seismic activity and fission plant locations in the U.S. Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/en/multimedia/photos/Seismic-hazards-in-the-United-States/

Figure 5: exposures of radiation Source: http://themoscownews.com/infographics/20110321/188510083.html

Evacuation Plans Standard evacuation plans account for populations within a 10-mile radius of nuclear power plants. Radioactive dust from the 1986 Chernobyl accident traveled 680 miles within the first 36 hours.

Figure 6: unfinished Yucca Mountain repository Source (smaller): http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2011-07-28/business/35237867_1_yucca-site-nuclear-

waste-waste-site Source (larger): http://nfrcoalition.blogspot.com/2012/05/court-should-order-decision-on-yucca.html

To view the full student essay and source list of this poster, including the other Nuclear Power Research presentations of this group, please

scan the following QR:

Figure 1: construction costs of fission technology Source: http://action.sierraclub.org/site/MessageViewer?em_id=244262.0&dlv_id=210701

Figure 3: overall cost increase of fission construction Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_t3jGROqzutA/SQohyGinjSI/AAAAAAAAAD8/X-GscPmXp-g/

s400/nuccost.gif

Figure 2: cleanup efforts of Hanford site Source: http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/282636/

slide_282636_2140538_free.jpg?1361573394045

Although nuclear power provides the most inexpensive energy available amongst major sources, it is one of the most expensive sources to implement and manage. Construction overruns cost billions of dollars more than necessary, reoccurring waste issues require constant finances to resolve, and frequent legalities and lawsuits result in millions of dollars spent by governmental and private groups each year.

Construction Costs ☢  Nuclear plants cost an average of $8 billion ☢  Each additional reactor costs an average of $4 billion ☢  Construction delays due to drawn out legislation increase costs dramatically ☢  The average cost overrun is by 207% ☢  The highest cost overrun recorded is 475%, $15 billion more than the original $4 billion estimate

Waste Management ☢  More than $1 billion of tax revenue are spent each year toward nuclear waste disposal in the U.S. ☢  Efforts to resolve waste leakage from insufficient storage containers have resulted in over $50 billion, which continues to increase with occurring issues ☢  Over $10 billion of tax-based funds have been spent on developing the Yucca Mountain Repository, now facing likely termination by the government ☢  The cost of both constructing a new repository and disposing of accumulated waste is estimated to be $97 billion, all acquired from taxpayers

Legalities and Lawsuits As government organizations, such

as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy, are responsible for indirectly maintaining nuclear plants, they are also accountable for most accidents associated with them. Lawsuits alone have resulted in over $15 billion and continue to grow by $500 million annually. All of these costs are recovered through the utilization of taxpayers’ income each year.