"Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material."
The radioactive byproducts and materials produced by nuclear reactions that require careful storage and disposal.
Radioactive Decay: The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles such as alpha, beta, and gamma rays.
Half-life: The time it takes for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay.
Nuclear Fission: The splitting of a heavy nucleus into two smaller, more stable nuclei releasing a large amount of energy and several neutrons.
Nuclear Fusion: The joining of two lightweight atomic nuclei to form a heavier nucleus releasing a large amount of energy.
Radioactivity and health: The effects of radiation on human health, including acute and chronic radiation sickness, cancer, and genetic mutations.
Radiation shielding: The methods used to reduce or block radiation exposure, such as lead shielding, radiation-absorbing materials, and dosimetry.
Nuclear waste management: The practices and strategies for safe and effective disposal of radioactive materials, such as deep geological repositories, dry cask storage, and reprocessing.
Nuclear power generation: The principles of generating electricity from nuclear reactions, including reactor design, cooling systems, fuel types, and safety measures.
Nuclear weapons and proliferation: The political and social issues surrounding the development, proliferation, and disarmament of nuclear weapons.
Reactor accidents and disasters: The potential risks and consequences of nuclear reactor accidents, such as Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima.
Nuclear regulatory agencies: The international and national organizations responsible for regulating nuclear activities, including safety standards, licensing, and inspection.
Radiation measurement and detection: The devices and methods used to measure and detect radiation levels, including Geiger counters, dosimeters, and spectroscopy.
Nuclear fuel cycle: The process of producing, handling, and transporting nuclear fuel from mining to disposal, including enrichment, fabrication, and transportation.
Nuclear science and technology: The diverse applications of nuclear science in medicine, industry, agriculture, and environmental science.
High-level radioactive waste: This is the most dangerous type of nuclear waste and includes spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants and other radioactive materials generated during nuclear weapon production. It can remain radioactive for thousands of years and requires extensive shielding and handling precautions to prevent exposure.
Intermediate-level radioactive waste: This type of waste includes radioactive materials such as contaminated materials from nuclear power plant operations, certain types of medical isotopes, and small quantities of waste from nuclear weapon production. It typically requires less shielding than high-level waste but still poses a significant health risk.
Low-level radioactive waste: This type of waste includes materials such as contaminated clothing, tools, and other items that have been exposed to radioactive substances. It is generally less hazardous than high-level or intermediate-level waste but still requires careful handling and disposal.
Transuranic waste: This type of waste includes materials contaminated with elements heavier than uranium, such as plutonium and americium. It typically comes from nuclear weapon production or research and poses a significant health risk due to its long half-life.
Uranium mill tailings: This type of waste is generated during the mining and processing of uranium ore. It contains low levels of radioactivity and can pose a health risk if not properly disposed of.
Depleted uranium: This is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process and contains less radioactive material than natural uranium. However, it is still considered a hazardous material and requires careful handling and disposal.
Tritium: This is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is often used in nuclear weapons and power plants. It has a short half-life but can still pose a health risk if released into the environment.
Spent fuel storage: This refers to the storage of spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants. It requires careful management and disposal to prevent exposure to dangerous levels of radiation.
Reprocessing waste: This refers to the waste generated during the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. It contains highly radioactive materials and requires careful handling and disposal.
Medical radioactive waste: This type of waste includes materials such as used medical equipment and radioactive isotopes used in medical imaging and treatment. It poses a moderate health risk and requires careful disposal to prevent exposure.
"Radioactive waste is a result of many activities, including nuclear medicine, nuclear research, nuclear power generation, nuclear decommissioning, rare-earth mining, and nuclear weapons reprocessing."
"Radioactive waste is broadly classified into low-level waste (LLW), intermediate-level waste (ILW), and high-level waste (HLW)."
"Low-level waste (LLW) includes items such as paper, rags, tools, and clothing, which contain small amounts of mostly short-lived radioactivity."
"Intermediate-level waste (ILW) contains higher amounts of radioactivity and requires some shielding."
"High-level waste (HLW) is highly radioactive and hot due to decay heat, so requires cooling and shielding."
"In nuclear reprocessing plants, about 96% of spent nuclear fuel is recycled back into uranium-based and mixed-oxide (MOX) fuels."
"The residual 4% is minor actinides and fission products..."
"...fission products are a mixture of stable and quickly decaying (most likely already having decayed in the spent fuel pool) elements, medium lived fission products such as strontium-90 and caesium-137, and finally seven long-lived fission products with half-lives in the hundreds of thousands to millions of years."
"The minor actinides... are heavy elements other than uranium and plutonium which are created by neutron capture. Their half-lives range from years to millions of years and as alpha emitters they are particularly radiotoxic."
"The waste is subsequently converted into a glass-like ceramic for storage in a deep geological repository."
"Short-term approaches to radioactive waste storage have been segregation and storage on the surface or near-surface."
"Burial in a deep geological repository is a favored solution for long-term storage of high-level waste."
"Re-use and transmutation are favored solutions for reducing the HLW inventory."
"Boundaries to recycling of spent nuclear fuel are regulatory and economic."
"Furthermore, elements may be present in both useful and troublesome isotopes, which would require costly and energy-intensive isotope separation for their use - a currently uneconomic prospect."
"A summary of the amounts of radioactive waste and management approaches for most developed countries are presented and reviewed periodically as part of a joint convention of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."
"The storage and disposal of radioactive waste is regulated by government agencies..."
"...in order to protect human health and the environment."
"Radioactive waste is a type of hazardous waste that contains radioactive material."