Many times you've heard about nuclear waste .The truth is that if you search for information on Google, you can certainly find a number of images you never imagined.However, let's see what they are nuclear waste and what is done with them.
What are nuclear waste?
The nuclear waste s are liquids, solids or gases that are generated primarily in the course of the production of electrical energy obtained from different nuclear reactors and throughout the development that are followed for the production of fuel that these reactors need: the extraction of uranium in the mines, the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel and the dismantling of the reactor, at the end of its entire useful life (approximately thirty years).
They can also be generated by the manufacture of atomic weapons and by medicinal uses of nuclear materials They are also known as radioactive waste since they generally have chemical elements that are radioactive and do not fulfill a practical purpose.They constitute one of the most important problems related to nuclear energy since If they are not properly treated, they are highly threatening for humanity and the environment .
types of nuclear waste
There are different types of nuclear waste , according to their level of radioactivity.They can be classified as high waste activity (formed by elements of spent fuel), medium activity (produced by the nuclear fission mechanism) and low activity life (materials used for the maintenance of a nuclear power plant).
The most dangerous are those that come from the reprocessing of the nuclear fuel spent or waste High-activity nuclear can even become so active that they are capable of releasing heat .For this reason they have to be refrigerated for more than 40 years, before vitrification , which consists of fusing them in tubes of glass material of the size of a medium carafe weighing approximately 500 kilos.
Although it is hard to believe, after several years of nuclear energy , even there is no precise destination and of course for this kind of waste .At present, nuclear waste originating from a plant is protected from For several years in a kind of pool that is built in the same plant and then transferred to warehouses in which it is not really known how long they will remain there.
Years ago, many companies deposited, after vitrify, all kinds of nuclear waste at the bottom of the sea hundreds of kilometers from the coast.However, this solution was banned several years ago because it was not socially accepted.
Images: Evello Gomez, Nuclear Forum, Simon Hucko
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