Page 40 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Nuclear waste
As scientists use the nuclear materials they need, some waste material is produced,
much of which is radioactive. More radioactive material comes from the spent fuel rods
in reactors.
The key to nuclear reactions is that they
happen inside each atom. We have no means to stop these changes once they have begun, so radioactive materials must simply be allowed to lose their radioactivity naturally. Materials like uranium, with half-lives of billions of years, will never become safe.
The danger is that the radiation emitted from waste material can cause damage to human tissue, so people must be shielded from all sources of such radiation.
High level waste
Each power station produces about the same volume of high level waste as the size of an automobile each year.
Although the volume is small, high level waste such as spent
fuel rods from power stations and discarded nuclear warheads causes many problems. There is no choice but to encase the material in glass (which does not corrode) and bury it in very deep mines. Fortunately, at the moment the volume of such waste is not large, and it is likely that as fusion becomes a possible way of generating electricity, the amount of new radioactive waste will be much smaller than in the past. Scientists therefore have to cope with a problem that may be at its worst for the next half century.
 Burial of intermediate level waste.
Clay layers
Reinforced concrete over one metre thick
Drums containing radioactive waste are put into concrete casings.
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