Nuclear Waste Research Paper

Today, a considerable amount of energy is provided by nuclear energy. The technology is well organized and developing every passing day and as a result the cost of operation is falling. Using radioactive resources to produce energy generates waste. Waste that contains radioactive materials is called nuclear waste. The secure and environmentally-friendly disposal of nuclear waste is a crucial aspect of nuclear power programs. [1]

Nuclear power is harnessed from the energy retained inside of an atom’s nucleus. This energy bindes the atom together and, when released, can be used to produce electricity. In order for this energy to be released, however, it must be subjected to either nuclear fusion, the combination of several atoms to form one larger atom, or to nuclear fission, the division of larger atoms into several smaller atoms. Nuclear power plants, first introduced in 1954, use this second method in the production of electricity. Inside of a nuclear power plant, uranium atoms are split and their nuclear energy released, creating the heat necessary to produce the steam that powers turbine generators and create electricity. Nuclear energy is often referred to as a “clean” energy source because, unlike fossil fuels, its production does not result in the generation of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen oxides. Many endorse the use of nuclear energy because it is efficient, providing large amounts of energy in exchange for small amounts of fuel, reliable, as it can be produced almost all day and night, year round, and affordable, costing about 2.4 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2012 compared to fossil fuels, which cost about 3.27 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2012. However, the use of nuclear power also has several significant disadvantages. Its main downside lies in the threats nuclear power plants present in the forms of radioactive waste and nuclear meltdowns.

Today, as much as we know about nuclear power is one of the most powerful and fresh energy, compared to any carbon dioxide producing fuels like coal or oil. It is a very cost effective “cheap” source, but with a major downside. Obtaining it is a rather complex chemical procedure, and the outcome is not only precious power, but also hazardous waste. This

Modern concerns about global warming have rekindled ideas about nuclear power in the United States but one concern still remains: what is to be done with the waste? Right now most spent nuclear fuel is stored in large casks at the plants where it was used with plans in the works for a common location to store the waste for long periods of time. Long term storage is not the only option, technology exists to take this spent nuclear fuel and remove the unused plutonium and uranium from the waste products to create more fuel. The remaining waste would be stored in a long term facility as discussed above. This process is highly controversial due to economic and safety concerns, but could increase the capacity of a long term storage facility.

Due to the situation, that places us back to where we were on the crucial question of “What are we going to do with all the radioactive waste being discharged by U.S. nuclear power reactors?”. Although when you bear in mind the other radioactive waste streams made by converting and plutonium recycling, the amount of the long lived radioactive waste is not reduced. The French reprocessing company AREVA states that its process lowers the amount and endurance of the radioactive waste created by the nuclear power reactors.

Right now the solution is either dumping it in the oceans and burying it underground, which is known as vitrification ("Disadvantages Of Nuclear Energy - Conserve Energy Future."). However, the problem with that is once the sea gets contaminated, the animals we fish are sold and when we eat them they will also have high risky levels of radioactivity. It can create new diseases or deformities due to the high levels of radioactivity in the food people are consuming.On the other hand, we have waste being buried that will take thousands of years to be compressed by the walls of dirt around it. Eventually, we would run out of space to bury the nuclear fission waste, what would we do

Imagine your old community swimming pool filled with trash. Now as time passes that trash just keeps accumulating; what would you do with that trash? Where does it go or more importantly where can it go? Well, instead of trash imagine nuclear waste. Currently, 122 power plants across the U.S have spent nuclear fuel and waste that is laying unattended with nowhere to go. Our government tried to tackle this problem by

Nuclear power is a widely debated topic about whether or not it is worth the energy produced. Nuclear generators most commonly use a form of uranium to super heat water and produce electricity. However when the fuel rods containing the uranium are spent they leave behind large amounts of spent nuclear waste. This is one of the most serious issues concerning nuclear power production. As of now most of the waste we produce is stored underground but it can take over a thousand years for the radiation levels in this waste to lower enough to be safe. The question we are now facing is how do we deal with all of this waste we keep building up?

Nuclear waste is a problem that is not going to just disappear so the idea of reprocessing nuclear fuel to control the waste that is left behind is a good way of dealing with it. Some opponents of reprocessing nuclear fuel say that doing this will create a risk of terrorists stealing the plutonium that is separated using this method. The problem with this theory is that the plutonium that is produced is not considered weapons grade plutonium. The other problem with reprocessing nuclear waste opponents say is transporting the material once it has been separated. This would be a vulnerable time for accidents or for someone to try and steal the plutonium for some type of nefarious purpose. Proponents of reprocessing the nuclear waste say

On the other hand, the problem is that nuclear fission has the consequence of producing radioactive waste, which in some cases will still emit radioactivity in several thousand years, and radioactivity is after all very hazardous and a permanent disposal site for this waste hasn’t been found till today, despite decades of searching for one. Another disadvantage is that the material for the fuel rods is finite, so it will be also just a temporary solution although possibly for some decades. The third disadvantage is the cost as all nuclear power plants, which I know of, needed substantial subventions to be build and to operate them. This will also not change, or just to the worse, as the material for the fuel rods gets scarcer.

Logically it 's not hard to see that if there is a limited supply of something, one day it will finally run out. What happens when society relies on a resource that is nonrenewable? This is something that scientists are struggling with more and more each passing day. Though this is true of many substances that humans use (helium, chocolate, gold...), the most important substances that our lives rely on are fossil fuels. While there is a wide range of guesses regarding how long we have left until we deplete the world 's supply of fossil fuels, most experts say that we only have a few years before harvesting them becomes much more difficult (and expensive) (Lamb 2010). Given our unfortunate dependence on energy, this would have a massive effect on everything in life. Without energy, society as we know it would not be able to continue functioning. Even ignoring the limited supply, it 's hard to deny that the harvesting of resources throughout time has caused a plethora of problems ( 'Miners Lung ' is a disease that 's 'affectionately ' known to come from mining coal after all, and cave ins are not at all an entirely unheard of problem). As such, this leaves us with really only one viable option: go nuclear before it 's too late.

Nuclear waste is one of the reasons why many people have cancer and babies have health defects. Even though There isn't that much nuclear waste to cause any harm and nuclear power plants are built away from highly populated areas, nuclear waste is a big problem that will later on cause more problems because everyday items like cellphones, computers, or computers can cause humans to be exposed to radiation and nuclear power plants and nuclear tests cause 4% of the exposure of radiation that humans experience. Preventing the development of nuclear waste can end the harmful effects that it just causes like putting highly populated areas of people or animals in danger. The government is only procrastinating on this

Nuclear waste is the substance that nuclear fuel becomes after it has been used in a reactor. Although the metal rods appear unchanged after their use, the material inside has changed greatly. Before it was used to produce power, the fuel mainly consisted of uranium. In order to create heat energy in the reactor, U235 undergoes fission. Fission is a nuclear reaction in which the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller parts. As a result of this, there is a chain reaction which creates heat. The control rods control the fission rate and the temperature. In the steam generator, the heat and cooling water create pressured steam which moves the turbine. The turbine creates energy that goes into a generator which gives off electricity. The water from the turbine is able to become usable since it gets cooled. Once a reactor reaches its lifetime, it becomes spent fuel and is treated as waste. Most countries bury the spent fuel or reuse it. In the U.S., we haven’t decided what to do with the spent fuel so most of the spent fuel rods are stored in temporary storage pools. In the future, the United States plans to bury the waste in the Yucca Mountains which are located in Nevada. This would be a suitable place since it is not close to humans or the environment.

The ongoing debate is whether or not nuclear energy should be utilized. Nuclear energy, as defined by dictionary.com, is “energy released by reactions within atomic nuclei, as in nuclear fission or fusion.” Nuclear Fission is the process by which a large nucleus splits into two small nuclei and releases energy. Nuclear fusion is a reaction in which matter is converted into energy. Both opposing sides, either for or against the use of nuclear energy, have justified reasoning behind their thoughts. The benefits and disadvantages of nuclear energy are numerous. The positives when using nuclear energy are undeniable, yet arguably too dangerous. Nuclear energy produces the same amount of energy as 1,500,000 kilograms of coal, from just one kilogram of uranium - 235, according to the article in Document B, Boon or Bane?. However, in the same article, the author presents the idea that Uranium is an exhaustible fuel, so it will eventually run out. Another negative is the ominous threat of an incident, as nuclear energy is extremely hazardous to people and the environment.Although the usage of nuclear energy has many disadvantages, the benefits of nuclear energy outweigh the negatives, because nuclear energy successfully, easily produces an immeasurably large amount of energy without directly emitting air pollution, and it provides numerous jobs to people, as well as provide millions of dollars in taxes.

There is an absolutely astonishing amount of energy released by this process, mostly in the form of heat and gamma radiation. To put it in perspective, we can compare the energy available in gasoline to that of uranium. If we take a U-235 enriched sample of uranium, such as that available on a nuclear submarine, there would be about as much energy in a 1 pound sample as there would be in about a million gallons of gas. In order for a sample of uranium to be this productive, it usually has at least 2-3 percent U-235.