Nuclear Waste DisposalBY: ANGELA RUIZ

Background Information

Nuclear waste is a material that nuclear fuel becomes after it is used in a reactor.

The nuclear waste looks the same as the nuclear chemicals did before but the stuff contained in it is not the same.

There are two types of nuclear waste: low level and high levels of nuclear waste.

The waste, sometimes called spent fuel, is dangerously radioactive, and remains that way for thousands of years.

If you are within a few feet of the nuclear waste after it has been out of the reactor you could die or get radiation sickness.

disposal…

To get rid of the waste they would put the waste underground, or deep under mountains.

They put the nuclear waste in these containers to seal them from ever getting out and into the nuclear plant or earth.

facts

It still contains 95% of its energy. 

It can be recycled, and actually produces energy while being recycled, instead of requiring energy to recycle.

Nuclear fuel is around 2,000,000 times more energy dense than coal, oil, and biomass. This means the quantity of nuclear waste is very tiny for the huge amount of energy it produces.

If recycled, the waste lifetime is reduced to around 300 years

There is about 12,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel is disposed of annually, a fourth of which is recycled and reused.

The controversy…

There is two sides to having the nuclear waste disposed of in different places. People choose to be against dumping the waste in the Earth whether that is in the oceans or the ground itself are anti-nuclear waste disposal. They do not want the waste being dumped in the oceans because it is killing the life that live in all of the oceans. Also they do not want the government dumping the waste in the ground because it will kill the animals living in the ground and it will poison their crops. The other side is the pro-nuclear waste disposal, they want the waste being dumped in the Earth because that is where is all came from. It would be just the same as recycling the waste back into the Earth to create more energy to put into new reactors.

Works Cited

http://www.whatisnuclear.com/articles/waste.html

http://www.thingsworsethannuclearpower.com/2013/05/10-cool-things-about-nuclear-waste.html

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-does-the-us-do-with-nuclear-waste/