Nuclear energy waste

With the close of activities devoted to the plutonium production for World War n, two activities have dominated waste management till the end of the Cold War Period, competition in nuclear weapons production and the growth of civilian use of nuclear energy. Wastes from civilian uses on a radioactivity scale were dominated by civilian nuclear power production while waste production from nuclear weapons systems was dominated by the rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. 

Thorium, uranium, and plutonium are well known for their role as the basic fuels (or sources of fuel) for the release of nuclear energy (5). The importance of the remainder of the actinide group Hes at present, for the most part, in the realm of pure research, but a number of practical appHcations are also known (6). The actinides present a storage-life problem in nuclear waste disposal and consideration is being given to separation methods for their recovery prior to disposal (see Waste treati nt, hazardous waste Nuclear reactors, waste managet nt). 

J. E. Till and H. R. Meyer, eds.. Radiological Assessment, A Textbook on Environmental Dose Analysis, NUREG/CR-3332, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washiagton, D.C., 1983 Disposal of Radioactive Waste Review of S afety Assessment Methods, Nuclear Energy Agency, Paris, 1991. 

Fullwood, R. R. and R.C. Erdmann, 1983, Risks Associated with Nuclear Material Waste Processing, Progress in Nuclear Energy, Pergammon Press Ltd. 

To address the technology, waste, safety and security issues concerning nuclear energy, the UN established the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in 1957, a few years after U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower s famous Atoms for Peace speech before the United Nations General Assembly. 

See also Electric Power, Generation of Environmental Problems and Energy Use Explosives and Propellants Meitner, Lise Military Energy Use, Historical Aspects of Molecular Energy Nuclear Energy Nuclear Energy, Historical Evolution of the Use of Nuclear Fission Fuel Nuclear Fusion Nuclear Waste. 

Geologic Disposal of Radioactive Waste" OECD Nuclear Energy Agency Paris, 1982. 

Sekimoto H, Nakamura H, Takagi N. 1996. Toxicity of radioactive wastes discharged from nuclear energy center in the future equilibrium state. Ann Nucl Energy 23(8) 663-668. 

These arguments are often put forward to promote the use ofNuclear Energy. However not all is well with the Nuclear Energy. There are the questions of the waste problem so far unsolved, safety ofNuclear Reactors is not guaranteed to the extent that they are inherently safe. If we aim to construct inherently safe reactors, then the economics of a Nuclear Reactor makes it unacceptable. 

To fill this gap, we will need to increase our nuclear energy R D to cover the complete spectrum of research needs. . . from power generation. .. to non-proliferation. .. to waste disposal. The Department s Nuclear Energy Research Advisory Committee - NER4C - is currently working on an analysis of nuclear R D needs. We hope that this effort will further inform and focus our nuclear energy R D needs and help us fill our portfolio gaps. 

Learn how to concentrate and securely deal with the radioactive waste products from nuclear energy plants. 

One view is that nuclear energy is expensive, damages the environment and is harmful to human health and when the cost of construction and dealing with regulations and nuclear waste is included nuclear power... 

Polvani, C. (Chairman) et al "Objectives, Concepts and Strategies for the Management of Radioactive Waste Arising from Nuclear Power Programs" OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, Paris, 1977... 

This paper is concerned primarily with the application of chemistry to the control of radioactive waste products from the use of nuclear energy. As far as immediate effects are concerned, nuclear power from uranium is a particularly clean energy source (1). The radioactive waste prpducts are well contained within the used fuel bundles. Since some constituents of the radioactive wastes take almost a thousand years to decay to an innocuous level and a few persist for many millennia, e.g. we have to ensure... 

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