Nuclear Waste Research Paper
1. Environmental impacts of nuclear waste.
Nuclear waste or radioactive waste is the residue of nuclear reactors, nuclear researches, nuclear projects and nuclear bomb reaction. Nuclear wastes, also known as spent fuel, are dangerously radioactive and could exist for thousands of years. The release of nuclear waste from its reactor could easily cause a lot of diseases like acute radiation sickness.
The injection of nuclear waste to underground water causes water pollution and could contribute to extensive contamination of large marine areas. Some of these nuclear wastes injected to underground water could seep through and mix with underground water supplies used for drinking. Some pollutants or nuclear wastes have already penetrated underground water supplies of Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Oklahoma. Also, there was intentional dumping of nuclear waste done by the Soviets into the Techa River in 1949. It caused the people of Mayak yearly dose of 350 rems, an estimated amount of one hundred twenty-four thousand of people were affected by the radiation from the nuclear waste thrown to the Techa River. The radiation that affected the people of Mayak did also spread out …show more content…
It costs between three to five billion dollars for building a nuclear power plant. More money could be spent for the security of these nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants could be a good target for terrorist. Nuclear power plants could be used to control electricity supply and may be intentionally initialize a core meltdown that could devastate a lot of people. Uranium that is needed for processing of nuclear energy could be depleted. Uranium is not a renewable and because of the use of nuclear power plants, uranium could be depleted faster. Depending on the actual demand for uranium, uranium could be depleted in 30 to 60 years, and after that nuclear power plants will stop operating or would need to find an alternative for
Nuclear waste or radioactive waste is the residue of nuclear reactors, nuclear researches, nuclear projects and nuclear bomb reaction. Nuclear wastes, also known as spent fuel, are dangerously radioactive and could exist for thousands of years. The release of nuclear waste from its reactor could easily cause a lot of diseases like acute radiation sickness.
The injection of nuclear waste to underground water causes water pollution and could contribute to extensive contamination of large marine areas. Some of these nuclear wastes injected to underground water could seep through and mix with underground water supplies used for drinking. Some pollutants or nuclear wastes have already penetrated underground water supplies of Florida, Texas, Ohio, and Oklahoma. Also, there was intentional dumping of nuclear waste done by the Soviets into the Techa River in 1949. It caused the people of Mayak yearly dose of 350 rems, an estimated amount of one hundred twenty-four thousand of people were affected by the radiation from the nuclear waste thrown to the Techa River. The radiation that affected the people of Mayak did also spread out …show more content…
It costs between three to five billion dollars for building a nuclear power plant. More money could be spent for the security of these nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants could be a good target for terrorist. Nuclear power plants could be used to control electricity supply and may be intentionally initialize a core meltdown that could devastate a lot of people. Uranium that is needed for processing of nuclear energy could be depleted. Uranium is not a renewable and because of the use of nuclear power plants, uranium could be depleted faster. Depending on the actual demand for uranium, uranium could be depleted in 30 to 60 years, and after that nuclear power plants will stop operating or would need to find an alternative for