Nuclear Waste

Katherine Sanchez Navarro – General Supervisor

Shannon McLaughlin – Historian Aleeza Momin – Biologist

Rebecca Johnson – ChemistShahzeb Panjwani – Equipment Technician

Katherine

Nuclear Waste and were it comes from.

Katherine

•Nuclear waste is classified by the quantity and type of radioactive material.

• The source of nuclear waste comes from the nuclear industry.

•Examples are mining and processing of Uranium, nuclear power, nuclear reactors, and nuclear weapons.

Countries Containing Waste

• The country that produce the most waste is Ukraine. After that in order from the most waste produced: United Kingdoms, France, United States, and Canada.

• The countries with the most pollution due to nuclear waste are Canada, United Kingdom, Sweden, France, and Finland.

Katherine

Levels and Dangers of Nuclear Waste

• There are 4 levels of nuclear waste, exempt waste, low-level waste, intermediate level waste, and high-level waste.

• Exempt waste has negligible amounts of radiation so it doesn't affect you.

• Low-level waste doesn't require protection during it's disposal or transportation and the wastes are often compacted or incinerated before disposal to decrease it's volume.

Rebecca

Levels and Dangers of Nuclear Waste Continued…

• Intermediate level wastes normally requires shielding. Shielding can be barriers of lead, concrete or water to give protection from penetrating radiation such as gamma rays.

• High Level waste contain the fission products and transuranic elements generated in the reactor core which are highly radioactive and hot. High-level waste accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity produced though the actual amount of material is low.

• Spent fuel is generally removed from the reactor core under water, and transferred to large water filled pools where the fuel is held on racks underwater.

Rebecca

Elemental Radioactivity

• The waste usually contains about a quarter of the original fissile U-235 as well as much of the plutonium which has been formed in the reactor.

• It usually takes 30 years or longer for the radioactivity to go away.

Rebecca

Short-term Solution for Storing Waste

• Currently spent fuel-rods are stored in specially designed storage areas, such as water-filled basins and dry casks.

• There is cause for concern over this, for elements such as plutonium can turn into dust and possibly spread throughout the atmosphere.

Shannon

Long-term Solution for Storing Waste

• Currently the U.S. is proposing the Yucca Mountain Repository plan.

• Yucca Mountain, located on federal land in southwest Nevada, will be used to store the nuclear waste from 126 waste sites currently in the U.S.

• It is hoped that the mountain will start receiving nuclear waste by 2017.

Shannon

What happens to nuclear waste after a disaster?

• Unfortunately the nuclear waste is left in in the environment--- very little can be done to clean up radiation once it has leaked.

• If the disaster is big enough, like Chernobyl, the radiation from the waste will be dispersed throughout the atmosphere and affect neighboring areas for miles and miles.

• Nuclear waste seeps into the ground and affects the crops and water supplies, making it very unsafe for inhabitants who remain.

Shannon

Yucca Mountain

• Will take 40 years to transport to the repository

• If the truck gets into a wreck it can cause cancer-related deaths

• Transporting near water can cause pollution and health problems

• Will transport all waste by train and trucks avoiding major cities

Aleeza

Yucca Mountain continued…

• Will be the final resting place for 70,000 tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste.

• Stored under the mountain in tunnels for the next 10,000 years, that’s how long the waste will be deadly.

Aleeza

Aleeza

Harms Humans & Environment

Harms humans• Causes cancer• Health problems• Death

Harms environment• Penetrates through

plants killing them• Seeps into soil causing

the crops to be unhealthy and kills plants

• Can also affect animals

Aleeza

Can Nuclear Waste be made Safe?

• Nuclear Waste is currently being stored under desolate lands but unfortunately it is not 100% safe, but it is the closest thing we have to it. This is done by storing the fuel in steel-lined, concrete vaults filled with water. But in the future the U.S. plans to use other atoms to neutralize the radiation or dispose of the waste in space. Scientists are also trying to figure out methods in which the volume of the waste will be minimized.

Shahzeb Panjwani – Equipment Technician

http://www.nuc.umr.edu/nuclear_facts/answers/answers.html

Impact, Benefits, and Risks

• America has more than 100 Nuclear Power Plants which together provide 20% of America’s Energy.

• The Benefits of Nuclear Energy are cleaner air and less pollutants are released into the atmosphere.

• The Risks are potentially polluting the worlds water resources. Another risk is the discharge of harmful radiation.

Shahzeb Panjwani – Equipment Technician

Execution and Process of Disposing Nuclear Waste

• At the moment, Nuclear Plant components are disposed by storage in steel vaults in which are drowned in water to fight off nuclear radiation discharge.

• In the future plans are to be CONVERTING radiated material to irradiated material by the use of other atoms. Another option is to release it into space.

Shahzeb Panjwani – Equipment Technician

Summary

• Used radioactive material. • Classified into 4 levels of nuclear waste,. • Take over 30 years for material to lose

radioactive status.• Short-term solution for storing nuclear

waste is water-filled basins and dry casks.• Long term solutions for storing nuclear

waste is Yucca Mountain Repository plan.

Katherine

Summary continued ….

• Effects on humans are cancer, illness, and death and on environment is destroying soil and kill plants.

• After a nuclear disaster the radiation spreads through out the atmosphere.

Katherine

Bibliography

• http://library.thinkquest.org/3471/nuclear_waste.html • http://www.posse.net/high_lev.htm