coolscorpioNUCLEAR WASTE: The Unsolved Problem
December 14th 2006 14:52
By the year 2000, the nuclear industry will have created 201,000 tons of highly radioactive irradiated (used) fuel rods. Many ideas for "final" disposal have been put forward, but none has proved even remotely adequate. One problem is that the plutonium in the waste will remain radioactive for up to 240,000 years (12,000 generations) or more. For that entire time it must be isolated from all living organisms and from the water, land and air upon which they depend.
Deep underground burial of wastes is currently the favored policy of most nuclear nations. However, changing water tables, earthquakes and other geological factors will eventually disturb the buried waste and lead to contamination of soil, water and air.
None of the 44 countries with nuclear reactors has a solution to the waste problem. Meanwhile, the wastes are either kept in "temporary" storage facilities or buried in shallow pits. Wastes have been dumped directly into the ground, lakes and oceans of the world (e.g., into the Irish Sea near Sellafield, England; into the Pacific Ocean near the Farallones Islands off San Francisco, California; and into Lake Karachay, near Chelyabinsk, Russia).
A growing number of sites have been abandoned by humans due to radioactive contamination. Yet wind and water, microbes, insects, seeds, birds and other life forms which cannot read posted warning signs move freely from one ecological niche to another. The question of how to isolate radioactivity enduringly from life remains unanswered.
Our descendants will face the dangers and bear the expense of deactivating the world's 430 (as of 1996) nuclear reactors. They will also need to protect themselves virtually forever from the thousands of tons of radioactive wastes the industry has already produced.
Since the first splitting of the atom, concerned citizens and public officials have spoken out about the dangers of nuclear energy development. Increased awareness about the nuclear waste problem has strengthened efforts by citizen groups to stop nuclear power and implement safe energy alternatives.
Deep underground burial of wastes is currently the favored policy of most nuclear nations. However, changing water tables, earthquakes and other geological factors will eventually disturb the buried waste and lead to contamination of soil, water and air.
None of the 44 countries with nuclear reactors has a solution to the waste problem. Meanwhile, the wastes are either kept in "temporary" storage facilities or buried in shallow pits. Wastes have been dumped directly into the ground, lakes and oceans of the world (e.g., into the Irish Sea near Sellafield, England; into the Pacific Ocean near the Farallones Islands off San Francisco, California; and into Lake Karachay, near Chelyabinsk, Russia).
A growing number of sites have been abandoned by humans due to radioactive contamination. Yet wind and water, microbes, insects, seeds, birds and other life forms which cannot read posted warning signs move freely from one ecological niche to another. The question of how to isolate radioactivity enduringly from life remains unanswered.
Our descendants will face the dangers and bear the expense of deactivating the world's 430 (as of 1996) nuclear reactors. They will also need to protect themselves virtually forever from the thousands of tons of radioactive wastes the industry has already produced.
Since the first splitting of the atom, concerned citizens and public officials have spoken out about the dangers of nuclear energy development. Increased awareness about the nuclear waste problem has strengthened efforts by citizen groups to stop nuclear power and implement safe energy alternatives.
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