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Tyler A. Freeman
University of Kentucky
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Abstract
First off I talked about the incidents that have happened in the past that caused damage to
the land and to show what it can do if its not controlled. Then I went to talk about how and what
a nuclear controversy was and I gave examples and thats where one of the figures is used and
the other one shows states about the percentage of volume compared to the radioactive content.
After that I went to talk about what are the ways that people have been able to maintain nuclear
waste as well as to make is decompose it to a substance which it has no harmful effects. Lastly, I
talked about the pros and cons of nuclear waste and how even if it can cause so much damage it
has good qualities that without today we might not be able to have as much energy as we do now.
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The causes of nuclear waste can leave a hole town or even a city in waste. With this
information, I can explain the goods and the not so good history of nuclear waste, as well as what
it can do for us or why we made it. Plus, how we are storing and keeping it from polluting the
environment. But to start nuclear waste is a waste product from nuclear energy and fission which
To begin the understanding of nuclear waste lets look at the past and what has happened
since the term nuclear was came to be. With the stories of nuclear waste, I could only pick the
ones that were most recent. So, my first example is the Three Mile Island Accident this accident
happened because there was a meltdown in Marth 28, 1979 (United States Nuclear Regulatory
Commission 2014). It was said that this incident was the most serious accident in the U.S
commercial nuclear power plant history, also after the incident they decided to enhance the
reactors safety regulations, because a meltdown happens when the reactor is not cooled down to
a safe temperature (U.S.N.R.C 2014). For a greater understanding of the reactor look at figure
one. Now lets talk about the effects on the land of such outbreak. Nuclear waste is a radioactive
substance which can serious effects to the plants and animals and humans. In this case, there was
only one main thing that it affected which was the physical health of individuals that were
Yucca Mountain.
is a place that is used to store and dispose of nuclear waste, also is there no one could be harmed
be the effects of the radian thats in the waste. The government found this place to store nuclear
waste to a point where it could not hurt the environment or people. But I the report of the
construction there shows that a substance was found that would make it not to the regulations but
the scientist falsified the documents and carried on with the construction. this is not one of the
best things that happened in history but I did make higher up people understand what needed to
be changed for future references (The Yucca Mountain Nuclear Controversy 2010).
With the effects of nuclear waste there is many ways to manage the substance. In the
world, nuclear association states Unlike other industrial wastes, the level of hazard of all
nuclear waste its radioactivity diminishes with time. Each radionuclidea contained in the
waste has a half-life. Which is a good thing that time will help if its not a big issue and this is
the most common way of dealing with the substance. In another study, they use pyrochlore
which is A2B2O7 also they use other minor actinides which could be used in a high level of
nuclear waste to dispose of it in a more fashionable way (Rodney, C. Ewing, J. & Weber L.
2004). When doing the experiments to get rid of the waste the last method would be to subject
the waste under a controlled water area which will be a safe place for the waste to slowly losing
its radioactivity (World Nuclear Association 2017). In figure two it shows the levels of nuclear
waste, by comparing the volume and the radioactive content. Lastly there is a nuclear fusion-
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fission hybrid that could destroy nuclear waste and contribute to a carbon free energy future but
its still not been recently reported on the advancements of the product (UT News 2009).
There are many good things and bad things about nuclear waste in Maehlum M. article
she lists most of the big pros and cons of nuclear waste so I will start with the pros. First off it
has relative low cost which means after the nuclear plant is built the amount of electricity it
makes all comes back and shows that it is a lower cost than oil, gas, and coal. It is a high-energy
density I her passage she states it is estimated the amount of energy released in a nuclear fission
reaction is ten million times greater than the amount released in burning a fossil fuel atom,
therefore it doesnt need as much fuel than other power plants. Now lets look at the cons. The
biggest one is accidents happen which is obvious since it is dangerous to the environment and to
humans in she says that in the Chernobyl accident there between 15000 and 30000 people that
lost their lifes in the aftermath and that over 2.5 million are still struggling with health problems
from the waste. The last con is radioactive waste which can cause air pollution by sending carbon
Conclusion
In conclusion, I recommend the audience to take the information and make a decision to
hopefully make the world safer for the future generations and make it where if an accident
accrues that the right procedure is called and there is no casualties done to the people or the
plant.
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References
http://energyinformative.org/nuclear-energy-pros-and-cons/
https://www.macalester.edu/academics/environmentalstudies/students/projects/citizenscience201
0/yuccamountain/index.html
https://news.utexas.edu/2009/01/27/nuclear_hybrid
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collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html
Wallace, M., David Banks, G., & Rodriguez A. (August 2, 2013). Finding a Solution to
%E2%80%99s-nuclear-waste-problem.
World Nuclear Association. (2017). What are nuclear wastes and how are they managed?
Retrieved from
http://www.world-nuclear.org/nuclear-basics/what-are-nuclear-wastes.aspx
from http://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-
wastes/radioactive-waste-management.aspx
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Figures
rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/3mile-isle.html
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Volu Radioactive
me content
High-level 3% 95%
waste
Intermediat 7% 4%
e-level waste
Low-level 90% 1%
waste
(Figure 2) World Nuclear Association. (2017). What are nuclear wastes and how are they
http://www.world-nuclear.org/nuclear-basics/what-are-nuclear-wastes.aspx