Nuclear Waste The creation of huge quantities of long-lived radioactive waste is the most formidable problem facing the

nuclear power industry today. The difficulty of waste disposal was not considered to be a big problem during the time when power plants were first introduced; it was assumed that waste could be recycled or buried. Unfortunately, finding safe ways of storing radioactive wastes so that they do not leak radiation into the environment has proved to be a much more difficult task than anticipated. Radioactive wastes come in many different forms including the following:
o o o o o o

protective clothing of people in contact with radioactive materials the remains of lab animals used in experiments with radionuclides cooling water, used fuel rods, and old tools and parts from nuclear power plants mill tailings from uranium-enrichment factories old medical radiation equipment from hospitals and clinics used smoke detectors which contain radioactive americium-241 sensors

High-level waste Nuclear waste is divided into several categories. High-level waste consists mostly of spent nuclear reactor fuel from both commerical power plants and military facilities, as well as reprocessed materials which can emit large amounts of radiation for hundreds of thousands of years In the absence of high-level waste repositories, nuclear power plants genearlly store their spent fuel rods in lead-lined conceete pools of water. These pools somewhat contain the spread of gamma radiation by keeping the rods relatively cool. For long-term storage of high-level waste, a waterproof, geologically stable repository and leak-proof waste container is required. Packaging has to be tailored to the volume of the waste, the actual radioactive isotopes of elements it contains, how radioactive it is, its isotopes' half-lives, and how much heat it still generates. One technique for packaging highlevel wastes involves melting them with glass and pouring the molten material into impermeable containers. The containers could be buried in soil or in a rock pile and surrounded by fill material and a barrier wall. From the 1940s through the 1960s, barrels of radioactive waste were frequently dumped in oceans. This ended in 1970 when the EPA (Energy Protection Agency) determined that at least one-fourth of these barrels were leaking Mill Tailings Mill tailings, left over when ore is refined and processed is the largest by volume of any form of radioactive waste. Only 1% of uranium ore contains uranium--the rest is left on-site as sandlike residue. These tailings are generally left outdoors in huge piles, where they blow around, releasing radioactive materials into the surrounding air and water Low-Level Waste Low-level wastes are usually defined in terms of what they are not. They are not spent fuel, milling tailings, reprocessed materials, or transuranic materials. Low-level waste includes the remainder of radioactive wastes and materials generated in power plants, such as contaminated reactor water, plus those wastes created in medical laboratories, hospitals, and industry. it is likely that liquid wastes are

literally poured down the drain, whether or not they are still radioactive.Low-level waste landfills were first built in the 1960s. In near-surface land burial, containers of waste fill a trench and are covered and surrounded by compacted earth

The proposed site for the high level waste geologic repository is Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The site will resemble a mining complex. On the surface will be the waste handling facilities (offices, repair shops, etc.). About 1000 feet below the surface will be the disposal site for the containerized waste. The EPA has published its final regulations for the site. They can be found in 40 CFR Part 197, Environmental Radiation Protection Standards for Yucca Mountain, Nevada. The regulations limit the dose to the public to 15 mrem/year from the facility. The regulations also impose an additional groundwater protection dose limit of 4 mrem/year from beta and photon emitting radionuclides

Environmental Impacts of Renewable Sources: Three types of environmental effects: Visual and noise: Many of the energy sources could cause problems because of the way the operations look or the noise they produce. Disruption to habitat: This issue relates more to individual sites, but could cause problems if large-scale schemes are needed to meet targets. Emissions to air: Refers to the pollutants mainly from waste and biomass sites. 1) Environmental Impacts of Wind Power Land Use | Wildlife and Habitat | Public Health and Community | Life-Cycle Global Warming Emissions While there are no global warming emissions associated with operating wind turbines, there are emissions associated with other stages of a wind turbines life -cycle, including materials production, materials transportation, on-site construction and assembly, operation and maintenance, and decommissioning and dismantlement. For more on solar power technologies, see How Solar Energy Works. Land Use Depending on their location, larger utility-scale solar facilities can raise concerns about land degradation and habitat loss. Total land area requirements varies depending on the technology, the topography of the site, and the intensity of the solar resource. Estimates for utility-scale PV systems range from 3.5 to 10 acres per megawatt, while estimates for CSP facilities are between 4 and 16.5 acres per megawatt. Unlike wind facilities, there is less opportunity for solar projects to share land with agricultural uses. However, land impacts from utility-scale solar systems can be minimized by siting them at lower-quality locations such as brownfields, abandoned mining land, or existing transportation and transmission corridors [1, 2]. Smaller scale solar PV arrays, which can be built on homes or commercial buildings, also have minimal land use impact. Water Use

Solar PV cells do not use water for generating electricity. However, as in all manufacturing processes, some water is used to manufacture solar PV components. Concentrating solar thermal plants (CSP), like all thermal electric plants, require water for cooling. Water use depends on the plant design, plant location, and the type of cooling system. CSP plants that use wet-recirculating Hazardous Materials The PV cell manufacturing process includes a number of hazardous materials, most of which are used to clean and purify the semiconductor surface. These chemicals, similar to those used in the general semiconductor industry, include hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, nitric acid, hydrogen fluoride, 1,1,1-trichloroethane, and acetone 3) Environmental Impacts of Geothermal Energy Water Quality and Use | Air Emissions | Land Use | Life-Cycle Global Warming Emissions The most widely developed type of geothermal power plant (known as hydrothermal plants) are located near geologic hot spots where hot molten rock is close to the earths crust and produces hot water. In other regions enhanced geo thermal systems (or hot dry rock geothermal), which involve drilling into Earths surface to reach deeper geothermal resources, can allow broader access to geothermal energy. The distinction between open- and closed-loop systems is important with respect to air emissions. In closed-loop systems, gases removed from the well are not exposed to the atmosphere and are injected back into the ground after giving up their heat, so air emissions are minimal. In contrast, open-loop systems emit hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, and boron. Hydrogen sulfide, which has a distinctive rotten egg smell, is the most common emission [5]. Ozone Depletion: Three forms (or allotropes) of oxygen are involved in the ozone-oxygen cycle: oxygen atoms (O or atomic oxygen), oxygen gas (O2 or diatomic oxygen), and ozone gas (O3 or triatomic oxygen). Ozone is formed in the stratosphere when oxygen molecules photodissociate after absorbing an ultraviolet photon whose wavelength is shorter than 240 nm. This converts a single O2 into two atomic oxygen radicals. The atomic oxygen radicals then combine with separate O2molecules to create two O3 molecules. These ozone molecules absorb UV light between 310 and 200 nm, following which ozone splits into a molecule of O2and an oxygen atom. The oxygen atom then joins up with an oxygen molecule to regenerate ozone. This is a continuing process that terminates when an oxygen atom "recombines" with an ozone molecule to make two O2 molecules. O + O3 2 O2 chemical equation The overall amount of ozone in the stratosphere is determined by a balance between photochemical production and recombination.

Ozone can be destroyed by a number of free radical catalysts, the most important of which are the hydroxyl radical (OH), the nitric oxide radical (NO), atomicchlorine ion (Cl) and atomic bromine ion (Br). The dot is a common notation to indicate that all of these species have an unpaired electron and are thus extremely reactive. All of these have both natural and manmade sources; at the present time, most of the OH and NO in the stratosphere is of natural origin, but human activity has dramatically increased the levels of chlorine and bromine. These elements are found in certain stable organic compounds, especially chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which may find their way to the stratosphere without being destroyed in the troposphere due to their low reactivity. Once in the stratosphere, the Cl and Br atoms are liberated from the parent compounds by the action of ultraviolet light, e.g. CFCl3 + electromagnetic radiation CFCl2 + Cl The Cl and Br atoms can then destroy ozone molecules through a variety of catalytic cycles. In the simplest example of such a cycle,[4] a chlorine atom reacts with an ozone molecule, taking an oxygen atom with it (forming ClO) and leaving a normal oxygen molecule. The chlorine monoxide (i.e., the ClO) can react with a second molecule of ozone (i.e., O3) to yield another chlorine atom and two molecules of oxygen. The chemical shorthand for these gas-phase reactions is:

Cl + O3 ClO + O2: The chlorine atom changes an ozone molecule to ordinary oxygen ClO + O3 Cl + 2 O2: The ClO from the previous reaction destroys a second ozone molecule and recreates the original chlorine atom, which can repeat the first reaction and continue to destroy ozone.

The overall effect is a decrease in the amount of ozone, though the rate of these processes can be decreased by the effects of null cycles. More complicated mechanisms have been discovered that lead to ozone destruction in the lower stratosphere as well.

The ozone cycle

Consequences of ozone layer depletion

Biological effects
Ozone depletion would change all of the effects of UVB on human health, both positive and negative. UVB (the higher energy UV radiation absorbed by ozone) is generally accepted to be a contributory factor to skin cancer and to produce Vitamin D. In addition, increased surface UV leads to increased tropospheric ozone, which is a health risk to humans.[27]
Cortical cataracts

Studies are suggestive of an association between ocular cortical cataracts and UV-B exposure, using crude approximations of exposure and various cataract assessment techniques. A detailed assessment of ocular exposure to UV-B was carried out in a study on Chesapeake Bay Watermen, where increases in average annual ocular exposure were associated with increasing risk of cortical opacity
Effects on crops

An increase of UV radiation would be expected to affect crops. A number of economically important species of plants, such as rice, depend on cyanobacteria residing on their roots for the retention of nitrogen. Cyanobacteria are sensitive to UV radiation and would be affected by its increase.[40]
Increased tropospheric ozone

Increased surface UV leads to increased tropospheric ozone. Ground-level ozone is generally recognized to be a health risk, as ozone is toxic due to its strong oxidant properties. At this time, ozone at ground level is produced mainly by the action of UV radiation on combustion gases from vehicle exhausts.[citation needed]