| Nuclear waste is currently reported as being kept | | | | explosion. |
| in 126 temporary facilities scattered across 39 | | | | Plutonium is highly radioactive and has a half-life of |
| states, in cooling ponds and in storage buildings | | | | 25,000 years (Bullen and McCormick). This means |
| near nuclear reactors. Some of this waste sits on | | | | that plutonium takes approximately 25,000 years |
| sites near rivers or on top of water tables, and | | | | to decay to half of its original potency. That |
| some 160 to 170 million Americans live within 75 | | | | means that after 24,000 years half of the |
| miles of one of these sites. | | | | radioactivity contained in the plutonium will have |
| Nuclear power stations and reprocessing plants | | | | decayed. |
| release small quantities of radioactive gases (e.g, | | | | There is no doubt about it. Nuclear waste needs |
| krypton-85 and xenon-133) and trace amounts of | | | | to be very carefully disposed of for storage and |
| iodine-131 to the atmosphere. However, they | | | | there is a primary need to keep the material out |
| have short half-lives, and the radioactivity in the | | | | of harms' way for an extremely long while. |
| emissions is diminished by delaying their release. | | | | There is one body which has been doing |
| Nuclear waste from NORM is not usually highly | | | | radioactive material burial research, for the last 30 |
| radioactive, and might be safe to hold, although it | | | | years, and it is known as the Swedish Nuclear |
| may produce dangerous levels of radioactive | | | | Fuel and Waste Management Company. It has |
| radon gas. | | | | being conducting research and development to |
| Radioactive medical waste tends to contain beta | | | | find a method for safe final disposal of spent |
| particle and gamma ray emitters. It can be divided | | | | nuclear fuel that will provide long-term protection |
| into two main classes. Radioactive gases are also | | | | for man and the environment. |
| contained in the spent fuel rods. Newly withdrawn | | | | They have now reported that their method, |
| spent fuel assemblies are stored in large pools of | | | | which is now ready for licensing, involves |
| water adjacent to the reactors to keep them | | | | depositing the nuclear fuel in copper canisters at a |
| from overheating and to protect workers from | | | | depth of about 400-700 metres underground. |
| radiation. | | | | Two Swedish municipalities, Osthammar |
| Nuclear Regulatory Commission, for example, | | | | (Forsmark) and Oskarshamn, are prepared to |
| licenses many of the facilities that produce | | | | accept the repository. The view is that the |
| low-level waste, including nuclear power plants. It | | | | bedrock in these municipalities meets all the |
| also regulates low-level waste disposal. Nuclear | | | | requirements for safe final disposal. |
| waste is the radioactive waste left over from | | | | Even if development of the final disposal method |
| nuclear reactors, nuclear research projects, and | | | | for Sweden's spent nuclear fuel, currently |
| nuclear bomb production. Nuclear waste is divided | | | | amounting to about 5000 tonnes, is in principle |
| into low, medium, and high-level waste by the | | | | complete, it will be at least ten years before a |
| amount of radioactivity the waste produces. | | | | repository can be operational. |
| Electronics like computers and cell phones contain | | | | Getting nuclear waste disposal right is important, |
| a lot of different toxins. For example, cathode ray | | | | but vastly more waste is generated every day in |
| tubes (CRTs) in computers contain heavy metals, | | | | construction, in fact construction waste production |
| such as lead, barium and cadmium, which can be | | | | is huge. However, it has been proven that careful |
| very harmful to health if they enter the water | | | | planning to reduce construction waste not only |
| system. | | | | results in construction contracts being completed |
| Plutonium, a waste product of burning uranium in a | | | | without producing as much waste, the savings are |
| nuclear reactor, is especially dangerous if it gets | | | | so large that overall the production of a Site |
| into the body. | | | | Waste Management Plan saves the Contractor |
| Plutonium is also dangerous in its own right | | | | money. |
| because it can be used to produce a nuclear | | | | |