Radioactive waste

Radioactive waste, in the US

Nuclear waste is being transported by rail, in Germany

Radioactive waste is a term used for certain substances that are radioactive and that are no longer useful. Most radioactive waste is a by-product of operating nuclear power plants. Certain treatments in hospitals use radioactive substances. Scientists doing certain kinds of research use radioactive substances. Nuclear weapons also produce radioactive waste. Low-level radioactive wastes are radioactive gases, solids, or liquids that give off small amounts of ionizing radiation. High-level radioactive wastes give off large amounts of ionizing radiation.

Radioactive waste is dangerous to the environment, and there are many regulations about transporting it, handling it, and processing it in such a way that the dangers are reduced. They can contaminate water and affect the living organisms. Storage of radioactive waste must be guaranteed for thousands of years, until it decays sufficiently to be safe to the environment and its inhabitants. Radioactive waste can be stored by deep geological burial or by dry cask storage. Dry Cask Storage is large cylinders of concrete and steel that are used to hold 10 or more metric tons of high-level radioactive waste. The U.S. currently has no long-term radioactive waste storage site. In 1987 Yucca Mountain, Nevada was a candidate for radioactive waste storage, but was shut down.

Radioactive Waste Media

Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology (TINT) low-level radioactive waste barrels
Activity of U-233 for three fuel types. In the case of MOX, the U-233 increases for the first 650 thousand years as it is produced by the decay of Np-237 which was created in the reactor by absorption of neutrons by U-235.
Total activity for three fuel types. In region 1, there is radiation from short-lived nuclides, in region 2, from Sr-90 and Cs-137, and on the far right, the decay of Np-237 and U-233.
Annual release of uranium and thorium radioisotopes from coal combustion, predicted by ORNL in 1993 to cumulatively amount to 2.9 Mt over the 1937–2040 period, from the combustion of an estimated 637 Gt of coal worldwide.
Removal of very low-level waste
Spent fuel flasks are transported by railway in the United Kingdom. Each flask is constructed of 14 in (360 mm) thick solid steel and weighs in excess of 50 tonnes.
Cross-section of an intermediate-level waste canister, showing (simulated) waste encapsulated in concrete
The current locations across the United States where nuclear waste is stored
Modern medium- to high-level transport container for nuclear waste
The Onkalo is a planned deep geological repository for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel near the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant in Eurajoki, on the west coast of Finland. Picture of a pilot cave at final depth in Onkalo.

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