Nuclear Energy and Nuclear Waste The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly…

Pollution: nuclear vs. coal Pollution Type Nuclear Power Plant Coal Fired Power Plant CO2 No Yes SOx & NOx Mercury Particulates Thermal

How much energy is produced? Nuclear power is an extremely rich energy source. One gram of Uranium-235 delivers as much energy as 3.5 metric tons of coal!!! One in every 5 houses in the U.S. is supplied with nuclear energy.

Where are Nuclear Power Plants located?

Pros for Nuclear Power Rich energy source. 1 gram of Uranium-235 delivers as much energy as 3.5 metric tons of coal. Reactors run for years without refueling or being shut down and need little maintenance. No air pollution!

Cons about Nuclear Power Produces Radioactive Waste There is no permanent long-term disposal site for commercial nuclear waste. There is a relatively short supply of 235U (only enough left for 100~200 years) Nuclear Power Plants are expensive to build. Minor maintenance problems can be very expensive to fix. Safety concerns!!!

Potential for Disaster! Chernobyl meltdown in the former Soviet Union. hundreds died from radiation exposure thousands contracted cancers from high levels of radiation exposure Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. most serious nuclear accident in the U.S. (occurred in 1979) small amount of radioactive gas escaped the containment structure

Nuclear Waste Plutonium, cesium, strontium, and other “-ium” elements created in a nuclear reactor emit dangerous radiation that can literally knock electrons off the atoms of our cells, disrupting or destroying cell function or even causing cells to mutate into cancer cells. Radioactive elements emit radiation because they are unstable; they’d rather be something else. They achieve this by going to pieces; emitting particles and waves billions of times per second. This process is called radioactive decay.

Types of Waste High-Level Waste The most dangerous radioactive waste Spent fuel which comes from nuclear reactors (52,000 tons) liquid and solid waste from plutonium production Remains dangerous for relatively long period of time (tens of thousands of years) Long, long half-life Stored in specially shielded containers called casks Stored for long period of time (tens of thousands of years) Requires cooling before long term storage Stored in secure, isolated area

Types of Waste Transuranic Waste Includes clothing, tools, and other materials contaminated with plutonium, neptunium, and other synthetic elements heavier than uranium. (11.3 million cubic feet)

Low and Mixed Low-Level Waste Types of Waste Low and Mixed Low-Level Waste Includes radioactive and hazardous wastes from hospitals, research institutions, and decommissioned power plants Remains dangerous for relatively short period of time (few hundred years or less) Short half-life Can be stored in barrels with minimal to no shielding Stored for short period of time (few hundred years or less) Can be disposed of in regular trash or in hazardous waste landfills

Types of Waste Uranium Mill Tailings Residues left from the extraction of uranium ore (265 million tons).

What have we done in the past with Nuclear waste? Gas escaped from unfiltered stacks! Water used to cool reactors was returned to rivers! Waste was stored in underground tanks that leaked into the soil, eventually contaminating groundwater! Drums were dumped overboard at sea into deep water! Radioactive waste was incinerated!

Currently, nuclear waste is stored. Radioactive waste is temporarily stored on-site, awaiting approval of a national long-term nuclear waste storage facility. WE’RE RUNNING OUT OF SPACE!!!

The Decision Has Been Made! The Federal Government vetoed Nevada and had decided that Yucca Mountain will serve as the long-term storage facility for all commercially generated nuclear waste in the U.S.

What is Yucca Mountain? Site that has been declared “scientifically sound” and technically suitable” to geologically isolate nuclear waste for at least 10,000 years. Located 100 miles from Las Vegas Accept over 77,000 metric tons of nuclear waste before another site is built. Transportation of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain will take 24 years to complete.

Inside Yucca Mountain

Scientists have studied Yucca Mountain DOE has spent over $4 billion testing and tunneling Yucca mountain over 20 years. 200 pits, 450 boreholes, 6.8 miles of tunnels, 75,000 feet of core samples, 18,000 other geological samples, heated 7 million cubic feet of rock, tested 13,000 metals for corrosive resistance.

Scientists Created a Model Scientists use a computer model that calculates equations and assumptions a breakneck speeds to simulate what may happen at Yucca Mountain over millennia. How faithfully can a computer model simulate events that haven’t happened? The model shows that Yucca Mountain will succeed as it slowly FAILS. YES! Yucca Mountain will fail. Hopefully, radiation will not leak into groundwater until several half-lives have passed rendering the leaked material non-hazardous. It’s a matter of TIME. If Yucca Mountain naturally fails, the peak dose of radiation would be negligible. The model also takes into account misfortunes such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, even drilling by dim-witted humans.

Failure of Yucca Mountain

Pros about Long Term Storage at Yucca Mountain Storage in the middle of the desert is far safer for radioactive waste than scattered around the country in temporary holding facilities. Yucca Mountain is a compromise between leaving radioactive waste at the surface where it is accessible but exposed and putting it thousands of feet below the surface where it cannot be retrieved. Yucca Mountain is the most studied geological formation ever!

Pros about Long Term Storage at Yucca Mountain It’s huge – lots of capacity Rock formations are stable Tectonically – no volcanoes or faults Chemically – nonreactive rock Far from people Climate is dry Deep (2,000 feet) so not a likely terrorist target

Cons about Long Term Storage at Yucca Mountain The EPA has ruled that the DOE must demonstrate that Yucca Mountain can meet EPA standards for public and environmental health for 10,000 years. Does that mean radioactivity won’t be a threat after 10,000 years? NOPE! The peak radiation dose to the environment will occur after 400,000 years! Yucca mountain is only about 100 miles north of Las Vegas, a major metropolis. Scientific studies are incomplete making the decision to use Yucca Mountain “weak to moderate”. Scientists cannot agree if Yucca Mountain is watertight. Tests showed that water seeped inside the mountain at a more rapid rate than government computers initially estimated. Water could corrode containers and contaminate the surrounding landscape, seeping into groundwater. It’s only a matter of TIME before Yucca Mountain FAILS…

Cons Concerning Transportation of Nuclear Waste “Mobile Chernobyls” to carry 154 million pounds of radioactive waste through America’s heardland. Every year starting around 2010, 175 train and truck convoys filled with nuclear waste would pass through counties where more than a third of all Americans live. If an accident occurred en route, the nuclear fallout could kill thousands. Traveling convoys may become terrorists target. Current mishap rates for trains and trucks suggest there would be nearly 100 rail accidents and one or two truck accidents over the 24 years the Yucca Mountain would be accepting waste. (No harmful radiation is LIKELY to leak in those accidents…) About 6.5 million pounds of waste would be hauled 1 million miles by train and 100,000 miles by truck each year for 24 years. Waste will travel through 45 states! Some politicians are in favor of Yucca Mountain only because it will get their nuclear waste out of their back yard.

Alternative Solutions? Where Greenland or Antarctica Deep ocean floor Space Moon Stabilize radioactivity Seal in surface structure **REDUCE ENERGY DEMANDS** Why we can’t technology dangerous, unethical cost building integrity; security **UNWILLING PUBLIC**

Alternative Solutions? Today’s inefficient reactors use only 3% of Uranium. The other 97% is declared “spent,” fit only for Yucca Mountain. A new “fast” reactor promises to use 99.9% of fuel creating a residue that will be harmless in only 300 years!