The Effects Of Radioactive Wastes On The Environment, Human Health And Waterways Should A Leak From A Radioactive Waste Storage

Nuclear waste is a radioactive waste that is dangerous, and a fair percentage of people would agree on this topic. However, is it really dangerous or is it just harmful to an extent? In society, many debates are held over trying to prove to the world that this substance is harmful. In the essay, “Nuclear Waste,” Muller states clearly that he sides with the anti-nuke of the debate and how he pinpoints the facts of nuclear waste with great persuasion. Yet, it is uncertain whether Muller clearly has a good argument and/or answers the questions that many people linger to know.

•     Waste from nuclear energy stays radioactive for thousands of years. Great care has to be taken in storing this waste safely.

Highly radioactive waste disposal has become one of the most controversial aspects of nuclear technology. As the amount of spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level radioactive waste from defense-related processing plants has continued to mount, the issue has become increasingly contentious and politicized.2 The politicization of this issue is especially evident in the site selection process of a permanent national repository for the disposal of highly radioactive waste.

2. Nuclear Waste Disposal – Again a massive problem as the spent Nuclear Rods of Nuclear Reactors are prohibitively costly and difficult to dispose of. Spent nuclear fuel is initially very highly radioactive and so must be handled with great care and forethought. (10'000 years according to United States Environmental Protection Agency standards).There is no foolproof way to dispose nuclear waste fuel after it is used in the Nuclear Reactors. The area around Nuclear Waste Sites can be dangerous to humans for hundreds of year as complex nuclear elements have half lives running into many years. The United States had accumulated more than 50,000 metric tons of spent nuclear fuel from nuclear reactors. Permanent storage underground in U.S. had been proposed at the Yucca but that project has now been effectively cancelled. There is presently no adequate safe long-term storage for radioactive and chemical waste

The issue of radioactive waste is still an unsolved one. The waste from atomic vitality is to a great degree risky and it must be deliberately cared for a few thousand years (10'000 years as indicated by United States Environmental Protection Agency measures).

The use of nuclear power and nuclear weapons is forcing humankind, and indeed the whole ecosystem, to participate in a particularly cruel and totally uncontrolled experiment. The United States can not afford continuing to raid the environment with long-lived radioactive materials that are scattered to the wind and embedded in our soil, exposing large populations, and foisting health impacts - such as: “high instances of infant mortality and more than six thousand cases of thyroid cancer in children and adolescents according to a 2008 UN report” - (6) on unsuspecting future generations who have no choice in this matter. With this in mind, nuclear energy also puts out more carbon dioxide, puts out more air pollutants, enhances mortality more and takes longer to put up than real renewable energy systems, namely wind, solar, geothermal power, hydro-tidal wave power and, the radiation exposure will force animals and insects out of their homes, or possibly kill them as to what happened in Chernobyl. Moreover, nuclear power enhances nuclear weapons proliferation. (Ted Talk) Due to the fact, that the people haven’t yet came up a solution to where to store spent energy. Moreover, short- and long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel has been a challenge for the industry and policymakers. Spent fuel, if not disposed of properly, could contaminate water supplies or be used by terrorists to create a dirty bomb. This

A good disposal method of ground waste consists of a chemical treatment that is able to convert the hazardous waste into environmentally safe materials. A highly toxic chemical, trichloroethylene, becomes non-toxic when the chlorine atoms are converted to chloride anions. As well, when chromium-containing waste has highly toxic chromate anions are converted into Chromium (III) ion,

Radiation is energy emitted from a source. It has the property to ionise when it has such a high energy, that at the moment it interacts with an atom, it can remove tightly bound electrons from its orbit, causing the atom to become charged (ionized).

Ionizing radiation is a type of radiation that is able to disrupt atoms and molecules on which they pass through, giving rise to ions and free radicals. It is made up of energetic subatomic particles, ions or atoms moving at high speeds, and electromagnetic waves on the high-energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum. There are five primary types of Ionizing Radiation, Alpha Particles, Beta Particles, Gamma Rays, X-Rays and Neutrons. Alpha Particles are charged particles, which are two neutrons and two protons. They have a very limited ability to penetrate other materials, because they travel short distances and they have large mass. The only hazard that the caused is when they are inhaled. Beta Particles are electrons or positrons, which are

Nuclear waste from nuclear power plants, generated from nuclear power and energy, get dumped into specialized locations around the world where no one is supposed to get near because there is so much radiation ther that it is uninhabitable to any plants and animal alive. When they put the waste there it is going to sit there while the isotopes neutralize themselves, which can last between a few hours to thousands of years. One isotope of plutonium can have a half life of twenty four thousand years. This is extremely dangerous because eventually those spots will fill up with waste and

A massive amounts of heat produced during the fission process is used to produce electricity while releasing no harmful byproduct. Therefore, it is one of the cleanest and most ecofriendly ways to obtain energy and it should solve all our energy problems. However, there are a quite few disadvantages related to nuclear power generation that overcome its benefits. Building the nuclear power plant is very expensive due to longer construction times for radiation, insulation, security, and safety purposes. The waste from nuclear power plants is highly radioactive and potentially dangerous, if not handled carefully. The nuclear power waste can stay radioactive for thousands of years and must be stored deep in earth and away from the population, which is another very expensive and risky process. Because of the Three Mile Island accident, Chernobyl disaster and Fukushima nuclear accident, people have the biggest fear of nuclear radiation that has longer and real impact on life. All energy sources have some risk. The risks associated with nuclear energy are likely to be much less than those associated with fossil fuels. However, nuclear energy has a potential for devastating accidents, which surpasses everything that could occur with fossil fuels. It is also capable of destroying civilization the same way as nuclear weapons. Moreover, the long-term radiation danger of nuclear waste is a huge burden on humankind. Even though nuclear energy is a viable way to generate clean energy, it has grown more slowly than projected because of safety, security, and economic problems. The overall risks of nuclear accidents are much too high to overcome its benefits. Instead, we should improve and develop more on renewable energy sources to meet our energy

The purpose of this assignment was to discuss how mercury pollution is dangerous for our aquatic ecosystems. I wanted to show that we should be more concerned about the effects of mercury and how it impacts the marine mammals as well as humans. Many people disregard mercury as being a serious pollutant which can cause severe illness and even in some cases, death to marine mammals. By knowing the effects of mercury pollution, we can make a difference by following measures to safely dispose of mercury product. By properly disposing mercury containing products, we will be tremendously helping to curb mercury pollution one small step at a time.

A major characteristic of radioactive material is that it decays from one element to another through particle and gamma decay. Essentially, all radioactive materials are byproducts of previously decayed elements. In order to utilize the radioisotopes of their choice, providers must artificially employ forms of specific radionuclide formation. This process is induced in a variety of ways, namely, production in a particle accelerator or creation in a nuclear reactor.

The problem with nuclear waste is getting worse everyday while we try and find a solution to dispose of the waste properly, however there are some people who think that the nuclear waste project for waste disposal is not that serious and it does not have an affect on the environment, but they are wrong because our lack of care for proper disposal of nuclear waste is having a tole on the environment where the waste is buried and the life forms around these waste sites.

Contamination of air and water resources by exposure to landfills, and its consequences in the form of various implications on human health and environment, has made people alert and aware of the issue. This attitude has led to formulation of certain laws and policies by Federal Government while choosing a site for the construction of landfill, ensuring that all the requirements are met, and directions are followed as laid by the regulatory authorities. Location, functioning, design, nearby water reserves, closure and economic perspectives are main areas which needed to be addressed while setting up landfill in any area (USEPA, 1993).