FREE ESSAY ON NUCLEAR WASTE

NUCLEAR WASTE

The United States alone produces an average volume of commercial low-level radioactive
waste of about 500,000 cubic feet each year. That is a lot of waste! This comes from a
variety of places. Mainly though, it is produced by nuclear power plants. This waste
brings up a problem though. It is difficult to dispose of radioactive materials for two
reasons. One, some radioactive materials last for thousands of years. Two, most
radioactive materials are hazardous and can't be stored with conventional means.
Currently, there are a few proposals that have been made to combat this problem. These
include near-surface facilities, mined cavities, and geological repositories.
In the past, some countries dumped radioactive waste into the sea. This is extremely
hazardous to the environment. Recently though, more practical ideas have been made to
bury the waste. Before the material is even considered for storage or disposal, it must
be properly packaged. This includes packing it into steel drums or concrete containers.
These containers are expected to provide physical containment for at least a thousand
years. If the waste is in a liquid state, it must be placed on a special abosrbitent type
of material and then placed into the containers. The next step would be to transport the
containers to the burial site.
There are several different types of diposal facilities proposed. One is a near-surface
facility. This facility is located within a few tens of meters from the surface. These
facilities include trenches, and engineered vaults. Another proposal is mined cavities.
These facilities are constructed inside mines and caverns. They are either man-made or
natural. The last proposal is called a geological repository. These sites are located
more than several hundred meters below the surface in a stable geological formation(away
from major fault lines and other problem spots). After the site is located there are
other steps in the disposal process.
It is proposed that the drums will be placed in groups of four. Around these groups of
four a frame will be built. The frames then will be placed inside hard rock holes or
caverns. This will then be covered with a special backfill material that prevents the
movement of groundwater.A fter all of this is done, the site will be monitored for up to
100 years to detect any leakage of radioactive material or any outside influences such as
flooding. 
There have been problems with past proposals though. These problems were caused mainly by
the acceptance of liquid waste. The liquid waste leaked out of it's containers much
easier than the solid waste. This waste then contaminated the ground water. In other past
proposals, some sites were lost and accidentally discovered when construction began in
the region. This was due to human error and not structural problems. One other problem
also experienced by landfills is the availability of space. There aren't too many places
to store radioactive material safely and away from the general population. Also, the
sites where it is safe for storage are filling up.
At this point in time, the most adequate and logical type of radioactive waste management
seems to be burying the material. Although right now it is difficult to see if this
method the best available. Only future generations can tell. With further development of
the space shuttle program perhaps the method of burying waste will become obsolete.