Geography
Radioactive Waste Management
Radioactive waste management involves the safe handling, storage, and disposal of materials that emit radiation. This process aims to minimize the environmental and health risks associated with radioactive waste. It includes strategies such as containment, isolation, and monitoring to ensure the long-term safety and security of radioactive materials.
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11 Key excerpts on "Radioactive Waste Management"
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Academic Studio(Publisher)
____________________ WORLD TECHNOLOGIES ____________________ Chapter 3 Radioactive Waste Radioactive waste is a waste product containing radioactive material. It is usually the product of a nuclear process such as nuclear fission, though industries not directly connected to the nuclear power industry may also produce radioactive waste. Radioactivity diminishes over time, so in principle the waste needs to be isolated for a period of time until it no longer poses a hazard. This can mean hours to years for some common medical or industrial radioactive wastes, or thousands of years for high -level wastes from nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons reprocessing. The majority of radioactive waste is low -level waste, meaning it has low levels of radioactivity per mass or volume. The main approaches to managing radioactive waste to date have been segregation and storage for short-lived wastes, near -surface disposal for low and some intermediate level wastes, and deep burial or transmutation for the long -lived, high -level wastes. A summary of the amounts of radioactive wastes and management approaches for most developed countries are presented and reviewed periodically as part of the IAEA Joint Convention on Safety of Spent Fuel Management and the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management. The nature and significance of radioactive waste Radioactive waste typically comprises a number of radioisotopes: unstable configurations of elements that decay, emitting ionizing radiation which can be harmful to humans and the environment. Those isotopes emit different types and levels of radiation, which last for different periods of time.
eBook - ePub- C.K. Gupta(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
Extremely high standards of protection of individuals and the environment have been instituted. The tight control has ensured that exposure of the public to radiation from all industrial sources, including the nuclear industry, has always been below the recommended limits. Such sources contribute only a small fraction of the total radiation to which men are exposed. Most of this comes from outer space; from naturally occurring radioactive materials in the earth, in buildings, and in people’s bodies; and from medical uses of radiation. The literature provides an exhaustive account of the radiations. 2 In order to manage the radioactive wastes, we have to decide on several key points, for example, whether to disperse them into the atmosphere or the sea or to isolate them from man; whether to process sludge by dewatering; and whether to remove activity from solid waste, thus producing a secondary waste. There are many other decisions about treatment, packaging, storage, and disposal to be made on the basis of technical information, and taking into account national and international laws and regulations. It is, however, not sufficient to manage waste efficiently; it is also essential to respond to the natural concern of the general public and to satisfy them that the wastes are and will be managed safely. Thus, the management of radioactive waste, which for the first 20 years or so of the nuclear age was regarded as a matter of good housekeeping, has now broadened almost into a discipline in its own right, embracing subjects as diverse as radiation biology, corrosion, chemical engineering, and computer modeling. This chapter covers the management of the radioactive wastes arising from every stage of the nuclear fuel cycle from mining the uranium to reprocessing the spent fuel after its removal from a reactor
No longer available |Learn more- (Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- White Word Publications(Publisher)
Challenges with Radioactive Waste Management Hannes Alfvén, Nobel laureate in physics, described the as yet unsolved dilemma of high-level Radioactive Waste Management: The problem is how to keep radioactive waste in storage until it decays after hundreds of thousands of years. The geologic deposit must be absolutely reliable as the quantities of poison are tremendous. It is very difficult to satisfy these requirements for the simple reason that we have had no practical experience with such a long term project. Moreover permanently guarded storage requires a society with unprecedented stability. Thus, Alfvén identified two fundamental prerequisites for effective management of high-level radioactive waste: (1) stable geological formations, and (2) stable human institutions over hundreds of thousands of years. As Alfvén suggests, no known human civilization has ever endured for so long, and no geologic formation of adequate size for a permanent radioactive waste repository has yet been discovered that has been stable for so long a period. Nevertheless, avoiding confronting the risks associated with managing radioactive wastes may create countervailing risks of greater magnitude. Radioactive Waste Management is an example of policy analysis that requires special attention to ethical concerns, examined in the light of uncertainty and futurity : consideration of 'the impacts of practices and technologies on future generations'. There is a debate over what should constitute an acceptable scientific and engineering foundation for proceeding with radioactive waste disposal strategies. There are those who have argued, on the basis of complex geochemical simulation models, that relinquishing control over radioactive materials to geohydrologic processes at repository closure is an acceptable risk. They maintain that so-called “natural analogues” inhibit subterranean movement of radionuclides, making disposal of radioactive wastes in stable geologic formations unnecessary.
eBook - PDFTransparency and Accountability in Science and Politics
The Awareness Principle
- K. Andersson(Author)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
4 Radioactive Waste Management There are several reasons for giving the area of Radioactive Waste Management (rwm) much attention when we study societal decision processes for complex issues. First of all rwm is the very prototype of a scientifically complex prob- lem that needs political solutions. It contains a wide range of disciplines in natural sciences and technology, such as geology, hydrology, mechanics, chemistry and metal corrosion. It also contains social sciences and a very high level of ethical and value-laden considerations. There have been many failures and even a few success stories over a 30-year period during which numerous rwm programmes have commenced, made some progress, been halted and failed, and then been re-started with new approaches sometimes only to encounter new sets of problems. The issue of nuclear waste, being part of the overall debate about nuclear energy, has at times been extremely controversial – it has even caused governments to fall. As we shall see, rwm programmes contain all the problems we have dis- cussed so far with expert dominance, narrow framing, social distrust in expertise and industry, and fragmentation by stakeholders. There have thus been many failures but there is another side to the coin. The rwm community has realized that there are fundamental problems with its decision-making processes which has led to much research in risk communication 1 and related areas. Risk perception research has for example to a large extent developed from nuclear and radioactive waste applications. Generally speaking, there have been relatively rich resources available for research and the testing of new approaches, not just within the nuclear industry but also for govern- ment agencies, and sometimes also municipalities and other stakeholders have gained resources to develop their own approaches. All this has created a rich knowledge base from which much can be learned that is of relevance for other areas.
eBook - PDFNuclear Law
The Law Applying to Nuclear Installations and Radioactive Substances in its Historic Context
- Stephen Tromans(Author)
- 2010(Publication Date)
- Hart Publishing(Publisher)
The concept of regional facilities makes much sense on a number of levels, given the huge cost of constructing such facilities on a purely national basis, ensuring the necessarily high standards of safety and design, and the increasingly important imperative of exercising strict safeguards control over the dangerous materials involved, through having joint facilities with multinational staff. The lack of any real international market for spent fuel disposal services may become an increasingly acute problem as more countries rely on nuclear power for part of their electricity supplies. To that extent multilateral approaches will probably become more compelling for those countries which have not developed their own national facilities. Certainly there are possible advantages from multinational co-operation in terms of cost, efficiency, safety, non-proliferation and security. However, there are formidable obstacles to be addressed in terms of political and public acceptability and in adaptation of the current legal regimes on transboundary movements of waste, arrangements for transit through the territory or territorial waters of other states and on liability and insurance. CLASSIFYING RADIOACTIVE WASTE For some years attempts have been made to classify radioactive waste into various levels according to its characteristics. The physical, chemical and radiological properties of waste will affect how it is handled, stored and managed.
- Abdullah Al Faruque(Author)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
1Nuclear waste management is highly expensive, risky and the appropriate means of disposal is a matter of controversy. Although nuclear wastes can be recycled, such recycling has problems of its own as recycled waste can produce plutonium. Such plutonium and other transuranic materials could be used to develop nuclear weapons.2 Even though some of this plutonium can be recycled in reactors as a fuel, the disposal of the growing amounts of separated plutonium and of transuranic waste in particular must be carefully planned to meet both environmental and non-proliferation objectives.3 Reprocessing only marginally reduces radioactivity. One of the most interesting areas of debate over the management of nuclear waste in relation to crime and terrorist risks is the issue of transportation of the waste.4 All forms of waste, from the most highly radioactive reactor contents to low-level waste, must be transported from their places of origin to their places of rest. Transportation of nuclear waste from the nuclear reactor to the repository itself, or to another country, often raises the risk of accidents, terrorist attack or criminal misappropriation, for example sale on the illicit market.5 Appropriate regulation of the safety of such transportation should be in place to prevent such potential incident. Managing and disposing of nuclear waste represents a complex problem with technical, societal and political dimensions and implications.6 Finding a socially acceptable solution for the disposal of nuclear wastes remains a daunting task for countries with nuclear power plants.Sources and classification of nuclear wastes
Nuclear wastes can be produced from many nuclear activities ranging from uranium production (uranium mining and milling) to operation of nuclear reactors, fuel fabrication and reprocessing. Uranium mill tailings are the radioactive sand-like materials that remain after uranium is extracted by milling. A significant amount of high-level waste is generated from the reprocessing of nuclear fuel or spent fuel. After its use in a reactor, spent fuel is highly radioactive, emits significant radiation and heat and is transferred to a fuel pool for several years before being transferred to interim storage facilities.7 Spent fuel can pose a significant risk to the environment. The manufacture and maintenance of nuclear weapons produces a particular type of waste known as transuranic (TRU) waste. The decommissioning of nuclear power plants is another source of nuclear waste. Since an increasing number of nuclear reactors are reaching the end of their life-span, a significant volume of waste is predicted to arise from the decommissioning and clearance of nuclear sites.8
- OECD(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- OECD(Publisher)
Other properties depend on how the waste is processed and may also change with time. However, the potential impact of waste disposal on the environment depends on the combination of both groups of characteristics, together with the engineered and natural components of the disposal system. A number of radiological and non-radiological parameters can be used to characterise radioactive waste for disposal, but the following, which are significant in considering different disposal approaches and options, were selected and discussed in a recent study on the classification of waste (IAEA, 2009d): • half-life and activity; • radiotoxicity and chemotoxicity; • waste amount; • waste form properties and waste conditioning. There is an international consensus that, for long-lived wastes, isolation is best achieved through geological disposal, the goal of which is to ensure passive protection of humans and the environment from the radiotoxic species that the waste may contain. Only geological disposal allows the possibility of isolating radioactive waste for a period of time that is sufficiently long to allow the radioactivity to decay to safe levels. Institutional control may include active measures such as monitoring, surveillance and facility maintenance. Institutional control may also include passive measures such as the placement of markers and restricted use of the affected land. In broad terms, the combination of engineered and natural barriers together with institutional control aims to provide adequate containment of the radionuclides and isolation of the waste. ILW-SL management has been solved in a number of countries through the construction and operation of near surface repositories, some of which are now closed and under institutional control. Questions remain, however, on the safe disposal of ILW-LL and high-level waste (HLW).
eBook - PDF- (Author)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- Elsevier Science(Publisher)
9 Radioactive Waste Disposal There are two fundamental approaches to radioactive waste disposal, viz., dilution and dispersion, and containment of the radioactive material and its disposal in the grounds, preventing contact with the environment. The latter approach is mainly used in inland and densely populated countries and requires that an adequate number of storage containers be available for liquid wastes or that treatment plants be installed in nuclear power plants with complete technological equipment capable of maximally concentrating radioactive wastes, converting them into a solid, unleachable form and disposing of them so as to prevent health and environmental hazards. These wastes should not be stored at source in liquid form for reasons of economy and hygiene. The possibility should be considered of a failure of the reservoir or pipeline, which might result in the release of radioactive substances into the ground, contaminating the water table. This in turn usually becomes a hazard to the sources of potable and utility water in the environs of the storage site. In densely populated areas and countries, this aspect of the problem is extremely important because the hydrogeological and hydrological conditions of localities selected for nuclear power plant sites are far from suitable, mostly being in the vicinity of large water sources or water reservoirs where the water table is usually relatively near to the surface and comes into contact with surface water sources and ground waters in the local area. On the other hand, such water tables do not have a high permeability so that the radioactive contaminant moves through them relatively slowly. If there is a release from the reservoir the extent of the contamina- tion should thus be detected quickly and adequate measures taken.
eBook - PDFIntroduction to Waste Management
A Textbook
- Syed E. Hasan(Author)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- Wiley(Publisher)
The terms radioactive waste and nuclear waste are used inter- changeably – in the USA, nuclear waste is common, while radioactive waste is commonly used in Europe and some other countries. Nuclear waste represents a highly hazardous form of waste that requires cautious handling and careful management. But, unlike common hazardous (or industrial) waste, nuclear waste has unique characteristics that include: (i) easy detection and quantification of radioactivity levels in nuclear wastes as compared to expensive and tedious characterization of chemicals and other harmful materials in hazardous waste, (ii) progressive decline of radiation in nuclear wastes over periods of time, eventually becoming harmless, as opposed to some poisonous elements – As, Cd, Cr, Hg, Pb, besides many carcinogenic organic compounds in hazardous waste – that last forever. However, it is the combination of high levels of thermal energy and radioactivity generated during 100 90 80 70 60 50 T1 T2 T3 T5 T4 40 14 C remaining (%) 30 20 10 57 000 114 000 171000 Time (years) 228 000 285 000 0 Figure 7.9 Half-life cycles of 14 C. 7.4 Nduleat Wasne 253 the fission process in a power reactor that make the nuclear waste unique and dangerous. The goal of nuclear waste management, therefore, is to contain both the heat and the radiation from escap- ing into the biosphere to prevent possible harm to human and ecological systems. Yet another challenging feature of nuclear waste is the large range in the half-lives of radionuclides – from as low as seconds, such as 16 N: 7.3 seconds; 90 Kr: 33 seconds; 97 Kr: 1 second; 139 Xe: 41 seconds; 140 Xe: 16 seconds to millions of years (Ma), such as 99 Tc: 0.211 Ma; 93 Zr: 1.53 Ma; 135 Cs: 2.3 Ma; 107 Pd: 6.5 Ma, and 129 I: 15.7 Ma, that call for safe management on both short- and long-term bases.
eBook - PDF- William C. Blackman, Jr.(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
Groundwater cleanup has been estimated by the DOE to cost more than $310 million (USNRC 1999a, p. 4). Stabilized uranium mill tailings piles must have a cover designed to control radiological hazards for a minimum of 200 years and for 1000 years to the greatest extent reasonably achievable. The cover must also limit radon releases to 20 pCi/m 2 averaged over the disposal area. Radon release limitation requirements apply to any portion of the tailings disposal site unless radium contrates do not exceed 5 pCi/g in the first 15 cm below the surface and 15 pCi/g in layers more than 15 cm below the surface (DOE 1995; see also: Rustum 1982; Tang and Saling 1990, Chapter 7; League of Women Voters 1993; DOE 1994a; DOE 1997, Chapter 5; USNRC 1999a). TOPICS FOR REVIEW OR DISCUSSION 1. The text discusses four types of radiation, three of which may be of concern in managing radioactive waste. One type probably will not be encountered on a radioactive waste site. Discuss. 2. If α -particles are so easily attenuated (i.e., by a paper barrier), why is this type radiation of concern to hazardous or radioactive waste workers? 3. Physiological effects of radiation on man are classified as somatic or genetic. Explain the terms and their implications. 4. Occupational exposure to radioactive materials is limited by 40 CFR 20 to 50 rems per year to each of several organs, but only 5 rems total body exposure. Explain! 5. Three radioactive repository/storage sites are in various stages of devel-opment in the U.S. Identify them and the types of wastes to be managed at each. 368 Basic Hazardous Waste Management, Third Edition 6. What is meant by RCRA “mixed waste”? Why is it a major problem (a) from a technical standpoint and (b) from a regulatory standpoint? 7. Most TRU wastes are relatively mild in terms of radioactivity. Why, then, is TRU to be managed in deep underground repositories? What special management problems attend TRU wastes? 8.
eBook - PDFThe Politics of Nuclear Waste
Pergamon Policy Studies on Energy
- E. William Colglazier(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Pergamon(Publisher)
1 Nuclear wastes comprise one category within a general class of hazardous wastes that modern industrial activity forces society to manage, 1 and in some respects they are neither unique nor particularly noteworthy within that class. They are neither the only long-lived hazardous wastes nor the only ones whose level of toxicity requires management by containment and isolation rather than by dispersion and dilution. Noting this fact does not imply that managing nuclear wastes either is or should be simple or straightforward. The manage-ment of all hazardous wastes is difficult, and the historic record in the United States is by no means a source of national pride. Moreover, nuclear wastes do have certain unique characteristics that render their management even more difficult than usual. First, their hazard derives primarily from their radioactivity, an invisible, elusive, and not easily understood property of matter that is beyond the direct experience of most people. Second, in the case of high-level nuclear waste—the category that receives the most attention—public expectations and regulatory standards require high confidence that isolation can be sustained for thousands, if not tens of thousands of years. This implies the need for a level of understanding and capability for predicting the behavior of complex geologi-cal systems that skeptics can readily argue does not exist. Third, most of the existing and future nuclear waste is and will be the by-product of activities with which much of the public associates the risk of disaster, namely, nuclear weapons production and nuclear power generation. Both are extremely con-troversial activities against which extensive political opposition has been mobi-lized. As a result of these special characteristics, nuclear wastes evoke in the minds of many an aura of mystery, an association with destruction and human 1 Nuclear Waste Management in the United States Ted Greenwood
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