Salam..
Hye guys, sorry for the late entry.. AGAIN!.. since, last week we are quite busy.. LOL.
Btw, to make up our late entry, here is..
How to manage a nuclear waste?
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| Waste |
Is it like in the picture? Because people always thinking waste is like that! Is it?
It is actually,
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| nuclear waste |
Nuclear waste is a waste product produced from the operation of a nuclear power plant (fission product) and other industries that are not related to nuclear power industry. This nuclear waste is radioactive material and can pose hazards to the environment and human being. This nuclear waste should be handled with high degree of carefulness to prevent unwanted event from happening.
Classification of nuclear waste
Nuclear waste can be classified according to the amount and types of radioactivity in certain radioactive waste. Basically, there are three types of nuclear waste which are low level waste, intermediate level waste and high level waste.
Low level waste
Low level waste is the majority of radioactive waste existed in environment. Low level waste contains low level of radioactivity per mass or volume of certain nuclear waste. This type of waste is normally produced by industries that are not directly related to nuclear power industry, hospital and also nuclear fuel cycle. The waste comprises, paper, rags, clothing and filter which contains small amount of mostly short lived radioactivity. Shielding is not required during handling or managing this type of waste however some high activity low level nuclear wastes require shielding during handling. Most of the waste is suitable for shallow land burial in order to dispose the waste.
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| Removal of nuclear waste |
Intermediate level waste
Intermediate-level waste contains higher amounts of radioactivity than low level waste and in some cases requires shielding during handling of the waste. It typically comprises chemical sludges, resins and metal reactor fuel cladding, as well as contaminated materials from reactor decommissioning. The wastes which are in various forms like liquid, small particle will be solidified in concrete or bitumen for disposal purpose.
High level waste
High level waste is the highly radioactive material and experience high temperature. High level waste is produced by the burning of uranium fuel inside the nuclear reactor. The burning of uranium fuel will produce fission products and transuranic elements (decay radioactively into other elements). High level waste accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity produced in the process of electricity generation.
Management of nuclear waste
Geological disposal
This method is expected to be commissioned some time after 2010. Geological disposal is burial of high level waste and unused spent fuel far beneath the ground around 500-1000m below the earth surface. This method isolates the highly radioactive waste from the inhabitants. Highly radioactive material is believed to take very long period to lose enough reactivity.
Recycling used fuel
Most of the used fuel still contains an amount of U-235 and plutonium isotopes which have been formed inside the reactor. This represents high amount of original uranium contains and also energy contain. This uranium and plutonium are separated from the wastes so that they can be recycled for re-use in a nuclear reactor. Plutonium contain separated from the waste is recycled through a MOX fuel fabrication plant where it is mixed with depleted uranium oxide to make fresh fuel .Then the fresh fuel produced can be use as a fuel inside the nuclear reactor.
Vitrification
Vitrification is where nuclear waste is formed into a form normally cylinder by several processes. During the process, other substances are added to the contain of nuclear waste to stabilize the ingredients. After a cylinder shape is formed, a seal is welded onto the cylinder .This will immobilized the nuclear waste for a long period. Then the material is stored usually in an underground repository.
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Vitrification process |
Methods of disposing low level and intermediate level waste
Short-lived intermediate-level wastes mainly contaminated materials produced from the decommissioning of nuclear reactors are normally buried while long-lived intermediate-level wastes produced from fuel reprocessing will be disposed by deep underground burial. Low-level wastes are suitable for shallow land burial while some low-level liquid wastes from reprocessing plants are discharged to the sea. Most of the nuclear power stations disposes its' wastes by releasing small quantities of radioactive gases such as krypton-85 and xenon-133 and tracing amounts of iodine-131 to the atmosphere.
However, they have short half-lives, and the radioactivity in the emissions is diminished by delaying their release. Besides, the net effect of krypton-85 and xenon-133 release is too small to warrant consideration in any life-cycle analysis.
How much waste is produced?
Even the cow also say 'Yes' to nuclear....
How about YOU?
References:
- articles related
- articles related [2]
- images from google
hye..i like this post..but,i want to ask about the effect difference between 3 types of nuclear waste..i mean how danger the high level waste if compared with low and intermediate level waste. what is their effect? TQ
ReplyDeleteMOHAMAD ASHIFF BIN KAMALUDIN (ME083578)
ars_shiffy@yahoo.com
To find satisfactory geologic repositories will always be an intractable issue. Therefore, does our country have suitable repository sites for the nuclear project? If so, where is it and why the place is chosen?
ReplyDeleteMohamad Fakhruddin b. Suparin
ME083579
fakhruddin_azzahrawi@yahoo.co.jp
this information is really useful as now i know there are ways to manage nuclear waste. but are these waste management can really preventing radiation and no harmful effects to human being.
ReplyDeletemuhammad fadlullah bin amram
zanyzeal_09@yahoo.com
hye..ill like to know, is it safe to do burial method with high level waste??
ReplyDeleteravivarma govindaraju
me086120
coolrv_03@hotmail.com
this is a good post, thanks for such good info. i now can clearly see how and roughly figure out where the waste material is goin to be. its a very good way to do it too.
ReplyDelete-justin peter joseph-
-me083557-
-terbalik_just23@hotmail.com-
When we talk about nuclear, its waste and radiation always comes first into people's mind. We need to expose the truth about its waste, and how safe it is to the environment.
ReplyDeleteBefore i started to know about nuclear, i was scared. Whole stuff about nuclear freak me out.
is it safe? what if something goes wrong? Will our future generation have 3 eyes 2 mouth and no nose? heck, that is before. But now, I say yes for nuclear because it is not only safe, but it helps to minimize the amount of green house effeect.
Muhammad Naim Bin Zulkifli
ME086233
fort89@yahoo.com
Why bother managing such hazardous waste while we can use other option like solar power that does not produce any waste whatsoever. I believe managing the waste will increase the risk and cost rather than solving our energy crisis.
ReplyDeleteMUHAMAD HAFIZUL BIN MOHD NASIR
ME084164
pjoe87@gmail.com
@mohammad
ReplyDeleteJust make it this way.
High level waste more dangerous that intermediate level waste and intermediate level waste is more dangerous than low level waste. Low level waste is not dangerous and can be handled without shielding however if a person is frequently exposed to the waste,it will affect the health of the person.Meanwhile intermediate and high level waste is quite dangerous and can pose serious hazard,threat to human being.The high level waste can cause casualty towards the victim.So these two materials should be handled with high carefulness.
@Fakhruddin
ReplyDeleteGeologic repositories is very far forward from our country plan in construction of nuclear power plant.Our country is still in the process to identify the best place to build a nuclear power plant.So identification of geological repositories is not carried out for the time being.
@Mfamy
ReplyDeleteYes,this waste management can prevent radiation and no harmful effect towards human being. Nuclear is the only energy that gives high emphasis in waste management.
@ravivarma govindaraju
ReplyDeleteIt is not safe.If we use geological repositories,it's safe.This is bcoz high level waste takes long period to decay and lose reactivity.
Cogeneration (also combined heat and power, CHP) is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat. Does nuclear waste management can use this cogeneration to make use of this waste management?
ReplyDeletevaageesan ganeesan
macha15_swimfaster@yahoo.com
where did the japanese go wrong with nuclear power plant
ReplyDeleteif nuclear energy is that good then why whole world is keeping close eye on japenese nuclear power plants.please answer my question.
ReplyDelete