Nuclear power.....what happens to spent fuel rods?

Question

Radioactive waste is dangerous, poisonous and generates huge amounts of heat for thousands of years. How does this help the environment?

Answer 1

they're kept onsite at the power plants, there were plans to start shipping them to a central holding facility. this is in america at least.

Answer 2

Radioactive waste is not dangerous or poisonous if handled correctly, though it will kill you due to radiation exposure if handled incorrect.

It does not produce HUGE amounts of heat, though it does produce heat even after shutdown. But it is not enough to be useful after a few days.

Currently in the US, we just leave spend fuel rods at a nuclear power plant because of the politics involved.

In other countries they RECYCLE most of the spent fuel to remove "fission poisons" and return most of the material to a reactor to produce even more power. Environmentalists prevent this from occurring in the US, thus ensuring power plants continue to accululate massive amounts of spent fuel, most of which WILL be eliminated as soon as we can start recycling it.

The remaining waste, which won't be high-level radioactive waste, will be radioactive for thousands of years, but so is Uranium (which is in the Earth naturally) which was removed from the Earth so that we could produce the power.

The only real danger is the possiblity of another Chernoybl-like disaster, which required a less-than-adequate design (which aren't approved in Europe or the US) AND turning off all the safety systems.

And nuclear energy produced less radioactive waste than coal, it's just that coal puts the radioactive particles in the air at a low rate (less than the allowable limit) and nuclear power plants concentrate the waste such that it is containable (just like coal power produces more mercury to power a incandescent bulb than is contained in a CFL, it's just that the CFL mercury is concentrated in one location than dispersed throughout the air (therefore more dangerous if not disposed of properly).

Answer 3

Spent fuel rods can be reprocessed to bring them back up to the level that makes them useful. The heat transferred to a secondary system is what makes them so useful.

The radioactivity i them was in the ground before miners dug it up so putting it back into the ground makes sense. However, the concentration level is so much higher; that is what the problem is. A half life can be thousands of years and then, it is only 1/2 as radioactive. Radiation is energy which, in the form of Gamma and neutron rays can be quite damaging to human cells. Lead and polyethylene (which contains a lot of hydrogen molecules) are used as shielding. Alpha and Beta rays are not near as damaging and can be stopped relatively easy. Steel and even paper can contain them. (Have any Coleman lantern mantels? They are highly radioactive but emit only the nearly harmless Alpha rays.)

Nuclear power does not emit gases, smoke or soot like some fuels. Canada has an abundant supply of uranium and other isotopes (the US has a lot, just not as much) so we would not be dependent on so called friendly nations for the element the way we are for other minerals such as molybdenum.

This country is building reactors every year; they just go into submarines and aircraft carriers.

Answer 4

The fuel rods can be reprocessed to produce more fuel for nuclear power plants.

The reason the rods are not reprocessed is political. When the rods are reprocessed, Plutonium is recovered also. The Plutonium can be used for nuclear weapons.

Politically groups have opposed reprocessing because that is seen as one way to shut down the nuclear industry.

If the nuclear induxtry cannot reprocess the spent fuel rods and it cannot dispose of them, the antinuclear people hope that will force the nuclear industry to shut down.

The result is that this forces us to burn coal to generate electricity.

What the antinuclear group does not realize is tha coal itself is contaminated with Uranium and Thorium. the Uranium and Thorium go up the smokestack with the fly ash and are concentrated in the remaining coal ash.

The coal ash is dumped in huge piles on the ground.

The Uranium content in the coal ash is so high that it has been proposed as an ore source for Uranium for nuclear weapons

Essentially the coal ash, hundreds of thousands of tons of it is radioactive waste that is just left out in the open on the ground.

Coal fired power plants produce far more radioactive nuclear waste than nuclear power plants and it is just left in huge piles on the ground and contaminates the environment with radioactive nuclear waste.

The waste from coal fired power plants is far more toxic and far more destructive to the environment than the waste from nuclear power plants.

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Answer 5

First of all the "Spent" Fuel Rods are not really spent. They have just developed enough impurities to no longer power that type of plant. Those rods can be reworked to make fuel pellets for a newer type of reactor that does not need near as high a heat output. The pellets can be reprocessed dozens of times and the by products of the repossessing is great fertilizer and not radioactive enough to harm anything. Sunlight has a higher radiation hazard.

Answer 6

maximum of that's saved in spent gasoline swimming pools for some years by using fact it nevertheless generates warmth. Afterwards its put in dry storage in casks. different spent gasoline is reprocessed. no longer many countries reprocess spent gasoline. in the process reprocessing plutonium and different useful components are recovered from the spent gasoline. the the rest radioactive waste is way less in volume whilst in comparison with the spent gasoline. What to do with spent gasoline is a political undertaking. there has been a thought to bury the gasoline in specific underground vaults such by using fact the Yucca mountain facility contained in the US. The swedes have additionally progressed a technique the place the waste is englassed and buried. After some years (some hundred) the radioactive fabric transmutes into extra sturdy aspects and is not any longer risky anymore. additionally longlived radioactive components could be irradiated with neutrons and transmuted into shortlived radioactive aspects which will take fewer years to decay. you should additionally distinguish spent gasoline from low point and medium point waste that are no longer an extremely super difficulty. sturdy success on your analyze

Answer 7

Fuel rods are reprocessed.
They do NOT continue producing heat
They can be stored safely
Nuclear power is the only alternative form of energy we have available that is proven and can produce enough reliable power at a reasonable cost.

Solar - Not cost effective in most applications and not reliable for 24/7 power needed. Requires massive land areas to produce much power.

Wind - Much cheaper than solar, but not reliable. Also requires massive land area to produce much.

Answer 8

It's not the environment that's considered when it comes to nuclear waste. It's the people who might come into contact with the radiation that are considered. Personally, as long as the waste is contained and sealed away, it could be buried in the ground forever for all I know or care.

Answer 9

I don't know why folks dust off these old school arguments against nuke power. Anybody feel like pulling out a slide rule to do some calculations? "Spent" fuel can be processed in third and fourth generation reactors to the point where the waste product has a background radiation no higher than the ore from which it was originally mined from Mother Earth.

We would be LEADING the world instead of following Europe's lead in this technology if not for all the enviro-luddites in this country. There is no one group more to blame for our country's dependence on fossil fuels than environmental extremists.

Answer 10

How does it hurt? Radioactive waste has been transported and stored for decades and you have absolutely no clue it's going on. Nuclear power is safer than digging for coal and cleaner for the environment.

Answer 11

I have a better question.

If the "spent" fuel rods are still generating huge amounts of heat, why don't they keep using them?

Things that make you go "hmmmmmmmmm".