How is nuclear waste made safe?
Answer:
Ill start with a bit of physics. Radioactive material has a "half life" which is the time for it to loose half its radiation, some materials this is a few seconds, some it is 1000's of year. Another thing about radiation is that there are different types with different energy levels - the weakest can be stopped with a sheet of paper, the next with a meter or so of lead and the last one is very powerfull, and finally there is radioactive sources all around us, though quite weak so they dont concern us (the ones in the power plants are concentrated and so concern us)
So now to an answer.
To make it safe you have to wait untill the radiation source has weakened enough to be safe (it halfs its strength with each passing of a half life time scale), and you can only store it untill it does get to a safe level.
To store the material it is often coated in Glass (stops the particles getting loose and getting into the environment as well as blocking some of the radiation), and thes pellets are stored in a barrell surrounded by stuff like concrete, and then in a water tank (to keep it cool - so it wont explode!!)(and block some radiation) and this is stored in a building with thick walls and lead. The sellafield stores are pools bigger than a couple of football pitches
They can also store the stuff in mine shafts and under the sea.
So what after its got to a safe level? Well that doesnt happen much and I dont know.
An alternative is to 'reprocess' it - turn it back into a fuel we can use again, so it goes into a power plant rather than storing it,
they melt the nuclear waste in with glass and/or cement and mold them into rods, afterward they store them, even though they are rods they still give off lots of radiation, then it has to be stored to "cool off" meaning for the radiactive elements to decay off to a stable form which does not give off radiation as much
so yes the problem is where to store the rods for some 100,000 years for the stuff to decay thats the problem
It cannot be 'made safe'. That is the ongoing problem.
they dont make it safe, you cant, they just bury it, thats why its not really a sustainable resource, coz it ruins the environment, and also uses uranium, which will run out in about 30 years or so.
There are massive amounts of radioactive materials that have to be "made safe". Most of this is low level radiation on items that have been made radioactive, such as gloves, rags, suits etc. The highly radioactive fuel rods are usually reprocessed.
Because the time it takes before the radiation decays to safe levels can be many years or hundreds of years, this waste is solidified with concrete or bitumen then buried. The depth of burial depending on level of radioactivity. Its the earth that buries the waste that prevents anyone being subjected to the radiation.
Its basically a given when they deal with most types of nuclear waste that sooner or later it will leach threw the contains that they put it into. Weather its within a day or two or a few million years (because of the half life of some elements) But for the most part lead ,glass and cement lined barrels are a good start. (gold would be even better but the cost would be out of this world) after all of that then out into a geological stable area (like a desert to keep under ground water from leaching it out and causing problems)
George W. Bush is solving that problem, sending those wastes to Iraq, and to other countries where USA, have military bases. Then military forces bury those wastes in foreign soils.
It can't really be made safe but there is a type of reactor, called a "breeder reactor", which can use that material as fuel until it is LESS radioactive than it was when it came from a normal reactor.
In fact, the plutonium that is removed from nuclear weapons can be used as fuel, as well as the so-called "depleted" uranium.
Unfortunately, a breeder reactor is more expensive to build. It uses a particle accelerator to "ignite" the DU, plutonium or an element called Thorium which is less radioactive than uranium.
The cool thing about it is that the "China Syndrome" can't happen because if it overruns you just shut off the accelerator and the reaction stops.
Well i know what is done ,
Sorry there is no website with all of it this is what i know ;
Radioactive waste is in several forms from , from the mining of nuclear substances such as Uranium , the manufacture of the fuel ( washing it and creating a isotope) , the operation of reactor and the reprocessing and recycling of the fuel.
Actually its not the nuclear power industry as you all think which produces the radioactive waste.
Lets catagarzie the waste from there sources ;
hospitals are the major and the biggest sources of Nuclear wastes due to rapidly inceasing use of radiopharmlogy , radiopharmaceuticals in medicine , besides that nuclear waste is also produced by nuclear weapon program but the level of it is the least.
High level waste consist of spent fuel, it contains the waste generated from the 1st stage of fuel reprocessing it is the bulk of fission products .Transuranic TRU waste is the common one produced by plutonium , fuel reprocessing , plutonium fuel fabrication and the manufacture of nuclear weapons .
the highest level waste in the world is a by product of nuclear weapons program , this highest level waste is stored in a liquid form in large tanks made by lid , zinc , graphite and a product called Teflon .
The waste is stored for research and for reprocessing if it is a completely waste and every thing is taken out of it
the tanks are dumped in a stable geographic conditions which are located at low risk from earthquakes and other natural disasters .salt domes and historically stable rock formations are structured at the premises of such locations to warmn the people .
before dumping such materials there are a fixed time at which the waste will be deactivated it self as nuclear waste decays at the rate of its composites which can vary from 1 year to over 1000 years .
the medium risk and low waste which is commonly from nuclear power plants are recycled and febricated again if possible after recycling the medium waste is rather converted into high risk waste or is washed as common waste .
The low risk and highest amount of waste are from hospitals
and i am sorry my frnd that i have no idea what they do with it.
But i just wanted to drive your attension towards the biggest producer of nuclear waste which are the medical guys not the army or goverment , and remember non of the hospitals are strictly regulated for dumping like the army and power industry is most of the waste is just dumped with other waste and scrap.
try researching about it and let me know what you found .
so long have a nice day .
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