Caption : Plutonium Diet
Photographer : http://www.flickr.com/people/chemicalmonkey/ |
What is nuclear waste?Nuclear reactor plants are all over the world. Although these plants help to produce energy and aid the medical and industrial fields, they also generate significant amounts of toxic waste. This waste includes anything from the clothes a worker wears in a factory to the buildings themselves. Fuel rods are considered the most dangerous form of nuclear waste because they carry two highly radioactive elements: uranium-238 and uranium-235.
Where does waste come from?Fission. Fission occurs when the nuclei (centre) of an atom is split, releasing large amounts of energy in the form of heat. This process can only occur at extraordinarily high temperatures.
Plutonium and other radioactive materials (called fission products) are created as a result of this process and are considered nuclear waste. Less than 8 kilograms of plutonium is needed to make a bomb as powerful as the one dropped on Nagasaki!
Fission is conducted in two kinds of nuclear reactors: power plants and research reactors. As of January 2006, there are a total of 443 nuclear power plants operating worldwide, with 25 under construction. As of February 2003, bout 220 ships and submarines are powered by nuclear reactors and there are 284 research reactors around the globe. All of these facilities produce radioactive waste.
Producers of radioactive waste in Australia
- Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANTSO)
- Department of Defence
- industry
- hospitals
- universities (yes some unis have small research reactor which generate radioactive material)
- uranium mining industry
Why do we have it?In Australia nuclear materials are used in mining, medicine, agriculture science, and for the purposes of national interest. The country also has a number of uranium mines which produce a lot of toxic waste. Australia has research reactors but no power plants. Even so, low, intermediate and high radioactive levels of waste are present.
Fast Facts
- 16% of the world’s electricity comes from nuclear energy
- France and Lithuania get 3/4 of power from nuclear energy
- Belgium, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia and Ukraine get a 1/3 of power from nuclear energy
- Japan, Germany and Finland get a minimum 1/4 of power from nuclear energy
- USA gets about 1/5 of its power from nuclear energy.
Is it harmful?Nuclear plants and radioactive waste can cause disasters. Here are some of the potential impacts:
- Exposure to radioactive waste can result in nervous disorders, kidney inflammation, cancer and birth defects
- Risk of accidents and meltdowns in power plants such as the Chernobyl disaster (1986, Ukraine)
- Uranium mining and plutonium production make radioactive material that contaminates everything around it. This affects the people nearby as well as the ecosystem.
- Some radioactive material can last for hundreds of thousands of years. Who knows what affect it could have on humans and the environment between now and then?
- A typical reactor produces about 20–30 tonnes of radioactive waste per year that can’t be disposed of (plutonium–239 will remain dangerous for 10,000 years and radioactive for 240,000 years).
What’s Australia’s deal with nuclear waste?The Commonwealth Government is currently developing a waste management method for nuclear waste produced by Australian Government agencies. The plan is to bury low-level and short-living intermediate waste and put long-living intermediate waste in storage containers underground. Small doses of low-level waste can be deposited into urban landfills or released into the air and sewers (this method is currently being reviewed).
Under current arrangements, each state is responsible for the management of waste generated by its agencies, organisations or individuals in its territory.
Keep your eyes on...The Northern TerritoryIn 2005, the Commonwealth Government announced three potential locations for nuclear waste facilities: Fishers Ridge (south-east of RAAF Base Tindal), Mt Everard (north-west of Alice Springs) and Harts Range (north-east of Alice Springs).
Lucas HeightsLucas Heights is a research reactor plant. The Commonwealth Government wants to erect a replacement reactor because Lucas Heights is getting old. Around 75% of Australians are against building a new reactor in the suburbs of Sydney.
What actions are being taken?
- Some plants re-use their nuclear waste to make more energy but this creates more waste
- Protest and petitions to stop the use of nuclear power and promote alternative resources
- Suggestions for better methods of waste storage. This includes taking waste and combining it with materials that turn to glass when melted. If it is melted altogether then the waste is trapped in the glass.
How do I know this?Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency,
Radioactive waste management in Australia,
http://www.arpansa.gov.au/is_waste.htm Department of Education Science and Training,
Managing Australia’s radioactive waste,
http://www.radioactivewaste.gov.au/Greenpeace Australia,
The nuclear waste problem,
http://www.greenpeace.org.au/nuclear/whatawaste/wa...Lai, L & Morrison, K, ‘Nuclear energy fact sheet’,
Wagingpeace.org,
http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/issues/nuclear-ene... Reaction, hands up for a nuclear free future,
http://www.reactnow.org
