AskEssays.com - Discover essay samples
Upload

Nuclear Waste

4.9 of 5.0 (27 reviews)

Download now!
Contains
924 words
Category
Science

Nuclear Waste Page 1
 Nuclear Waste Page 2
 Nuclear Waste Page 3
The above thumbnails are of reduced quality. To view the work in full quality, click download.

Nuclear Waste




Radioactive wastes, must for the protection of mankind be stored or disposed in such a manner that isolation from the biosphere is assured until they have decayed to innocuous levels. If this is not done, the world could face severe physical problems to living species living on this planet. Some atoms can disintegrate spontaneously. As they do, they emit ionizing radiation. Atoms having this property are called radioactive. By far the greatest number of uses for radioactivity in Canada relate not to the fission, but to the decay of radioactive materials - radioisotopes. These are unstable atoms that emit energy for a period of time that varies with the isotope. During this active period, while the atoms are ?decaying? to a stable state their energies can be used according to the kind of energy they emit. Since the mid 1900's radioactive wastes have been stored in different manners, but since several years new ways of disposing and storing these wastes have been developed so they may no longer be harmful. A very advantageous way of storing radioactive wastes is by a process called ?vitrification?. Vitrification is a semi-continuous process that enables the following operations to be carried out with the same equipment: evaporation of the waste solution mixed with the


1) borosilicate: any of several salts derived from both boric acid and silicic acid and found in certain minerals such as tourmaline. additives necesary for the production of borosilicate glass, calcination and elaboration of the glass. These operations are carried out in a metallic pot that is heated in an induction furnace. The vitrification of one load of wastes comprises of the following stages. The first step is ?Feeding?. In this step the vitrification receives a constant flow of mixture of wastes and of additives until it is 80% full of calcine. The feeding rate and heating power are adjusted so that an aqueous phase of several litres is permanently maintained at the surface of the pot. The second step is the ?Calcination and glass evaporation?. In this step when the pot is practically full of calcine, the temperature is progressively increased up to 1100 to 1500 C and then is maintained for several hours so to allow the glass to elaborate. The third step is ?Glass casting?. The glass is cast in a special container. The heating of the output of the vitrification pot causes the glass plug to melt, thus allowing the glass to flow into containers which are then transferred into the storage. Although part of the waste is transformed into a solid product there is still treatment of gaseous and liquid wastes. The gases that escape from the pot during feeding and calcination are collected and sent to ruthenium filters, condensers and scrubbing columns. The ruthenium filters consist of a bed of


2) condensacate: product of condensation.


glass pellets coated with ferrous oxide and maintained at a temperature of 500 C. In the treatment of liquid wastes, the condensates collected contain about 15% ruthenium. This is then concentrated in an evaporator where nitric acid is destroyed by formaldehyde so as to maintain low acidity. The concentration is then neutralized and enters the vitrification pot. Once the vitrification process is finished, the containers are stored in a storage pit. This pit has been designed so that the number of containers that may be stored is equivalent to nine years of production. Powerful ventilators provide air circulation to cool down glass. The glass produced has the advantage of being stored as solid rather than liquid. The advantages of the solids are that they have almost complete insolubility, chemical inertias, absence of volatile products and good radiation resistance. The ruthenium that escapes is absorbed by a filter. The amount of ruthenium likely to be released into the environment is minimal. Another method that is being used today to get rid of radioactive waste is the ?placement and self processing radioactive wastes in deep underground cavities?. This is the disposing of toxic wastes by incorporating them into molten silicate rock, with low permeability. By this method, liquid wastes are injected into a deep underground cavity with mineral treatment and allowed to self-boil. The resulting steam is processed at ground level and recycled in a closed system. When waste addition is terminated, the chimney is allowed to boil dry. The heat generated by the radioactive wastes then melts the surrounding rock, thus dissolving the wastes. When waste and water addition stop, the cavity temperature would rise to the melting point of the rock. As the molten rock mass increases in size, so does the surface area. This results in a higher rate of conductive heat loss to the surrounding rock. Concurrently the heat production rate of radioactivity diminishes because of decay. When the heat loss rate exceeds that of input, the molten rock will begin to cool and solidify. Finally the rock refreezes, trapping the radioactivity in an insoluble rock matrix deep underground. The heat surrounding the radioactivity would prevent the intrusion of ground water. After all, the steam and vapour are no longer released. The outlet hole would be sealed. To go a little deeper into this concept, the treatment of the wastes before injection is very important. To avoid breakdown of the rock that constitutes the formation, the acidity of he wastes has to be reduced. It has been established experimentally that pH values of 6.5 to 9.5 are the best for all receiving formations. With such a pH range, breakdown of the formation rock and ...

You are currently seeing 50% of this paper.

You're seeing 924 words of 1848.
Read the full essay

Keywords: nuclear waste disposal, nuclear waste director, nuclear waste management, nuclear waste secretary, nuclear waste definition, nuclear waste services, nuclear waste storage, nuclear wasteland

Similar essays


Rutherford

Ernest was born in Nelson, New Zealand. demonstrated his abilities as a scientist early on while working on his B.Sc. at the University of New Zealand in 1894. He showed that the magnetization can be removed from a magnetized iron needle by dissolving the surface layer of the metal in acid. He began work at Cambridge in 1895 and wa...

7 reviews
Download
Hurricanes 2

Hurricanes A natural hazard is when extreme events which cause great loss of life and or property and create severe disruption to human lives, such as a hurricane. Editor Philip Whitefield brings up an important point in ? Our Mysterious Planet? when he comments; ?At a time when we know how to aim a space probe directly at M...

37 reviews
Download
The Importance of the Mining Industry

The importance of mining is definitely significant to Canada. Mining, is an important industry, and Canadians are very advanced in their mining technology, but during the mining process, there is certain level of pollution produced. The Canadian government and the mining companies have very good plans...

63 reviews
Download
Cystic fibrosis

CYSTIC FIBROSIS I am the doctor for your hospital and have prepared the following paper for you to look at and possibly use. It includes information on what cystic fibrosis really is, what treatments there are, what you two can do for your child, and how it is inherited. I hope this document is useful to you in your incoming struggle ag...

28 reviews
Download
Biochemistry Prolonged Preservation of the Heart Prior to Transplantation

Biochemistry - Prolonged Preservation of the Heart Prior to Transplantation Picture this. A man is involved in a severe car crash in Florida which has left him brain-dead with no hope for any kind of recovery. The majority of his vital organs are still functional and the man has designated that his organs be donated to a needy...

81 reviews
Download
Atsisiųsti šį darbą