What is Nuclear Waste?
Nuclear waste is the radioactive waste left over from nuclear reactors, nuclear research projects, and nuclear bomb production. Nuclear waste is divided into low, medium, and high-level waste by the amount of radioactivity the waste produces. Although nuclear waste can be very dangerous, and should not be handled by anyone without professional training, it is not necessarily more dangerous than chemical poisons such as ricin and botulin. The largest source of nuclear waste is naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM). All substances are slightly radioactive from the decay of naturally occurring isotopes such as carbon-14, potassium-40, uranium-238 and thorium-232. If the radioactive elements are concentrated by natural processes or human industry, they may become concentrated enough to be treated as nuclear waste. Nuclear waste from NORM is not usually highly radioactive, and might be safe to hold, although it may produce dangerous levels of radioactive radon gas. The other prima
Nuclear waste is not limited to the plutonium and uranium left over from unused nuclear weapons. Nuclear waste is generated at every step of the nuclear weapon production process. “The acid used to extract the plutonium for the first nuclear test explosion in the Alamogordo desert of New Mexico is now high-level waste stored at the Hanford Site in the State of Washington.”quote Each container used for shipment, every glove, shoe, and disposable coverall used with the handling and cleanup of nuclear waste is classified as nuclear waste. Luckily not all nuclear waste was created equal. The wastes are classified into several different categories. The different categories are based on the potential hazards that the material presents to living organisms, the length of time that they will remain hazardous.
Nuclear waste is the material that nuclear fuel becomes after the fuel is used in a reactor. The waste, sometimes called spent fuel, is dangerously radioactive, and remains so for thousands of years. When it first comes out of the reactor, it is so toxic that if you stood within a few meters of it while it was unshielded, you would receive a lethal radioactive dose within a few seconds and would die of acute radiation sickness [wikipedia] within a few days. In practice, the spent fuel is never unshielded. It is kept underwater (water is an excellent shield) for a few years until the radiation decays to levels that can be shielded by concrete in large storage casks. The final disposal of this spent fuel is a hot topic, and is often an argument against the use of nuclear reactors.
Nuclear fuel waste is the used uranium fuel from nuclear reactors. It consists of hundreds of different by-products, including very hazardous radioactive substances which must be isolated for millions of years to protect all living things. Nuclear waste is very long-lived and extremely dangerous. High level nuclear fuel waste is created when nuclear power is used to generate electricity. The waste is a radioactive poison, and includes hundreds of different isotopes, or radiation-producing substances. Radiation can break down the structure of cells, cause cancers, genetic defects, and an overall weakening of the immune system. Some wastes last for 100’s of thousands of years – many times longer than human history, and certainly longer than any human containers can be trusted for. High level nuclear waste is the waste product of nuclear reactors. An estimated 1.9 million fuel bundles of nuclear fuel waste have been produced by Canadian nuclear reactors, with no known means of disposing o
