RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT

Presented By: Arka Datta

Roll No.: 1655018 Dept.: ChE
Contents
 What are radioactive wastes
 Sources of these wastes
 Classification of these wastes
 Harmful effects
 Case study due to mismanagement of wastes
 Management of wastes
 Conclusion
Introduction
Radioactive wastes are those that contains the radioactive materials
which is usually a by product of nuclear power generation and other
applications of nuclear fission or nuclear technology such as research or
medicines field.
Radioactive materials: These materials are generally enriched with the
radioactive elements like uranium, thorium, plutonium etc. They have
the following properties:
 gives off alpha, beta and gamma radiations
 atoms that decay naturally
 they cannot be turned off, hence very difficult to control unlike x-
rays
Sources of radioactive wastes
 Nuclear fuel cell
 Defense activities
 Nuclear power plant
 Medicines
Nuclear fuel cell
Waste from the front end of the nuclear
fuel cycle is usually alpha-emitting
waste from the extraction of uranium.
It often contains radium and its decay
products back-end of the nuclear fuel
cycle, emit beta and gamma radiation,
and actinides that emit alpha particles,
such as uranium-234, neptunium-237,
plutonium-238. A nuclear fuel storage
Defense activities
Produced from manufacturing, maintenance and operation of nuclear
submarines and weapons
 used filters and resins from submarine reactor operations
 metallic reactor components from development, testing and
decommissioning submarine reactors
 depleted uranium ammunitions, contaminated targets and ground
from weapons testing
 contaminated land from the clean-up of disused military sites to make
them available for reuse
Nuclear Power Plant
 mainly low level wastes are generated by contamination of various
materials with the radionuclides generated by fission and activation
in the reactor
 The main wastes arising during the operation of a nuclear power plant
are components which are removed during refueling or maintenance
(mainly activated solids, e.g. stainless steel containing cobalt-60 and
nickel-63)
Medicines
Many radioactive wastes are produced from the medical activities,
though they are relatively smaller in amount. some of the sources
include:
 used sealed sources from hospitals
 contaminated laboratory equipment and materials
 other solid wastes such as swabs, vials, syringes, gloves and dressings
 waste radiopharmaceuticals - radiopharmaceuticals often have short
half lives and so need to be replaced at regular intervals
Types of wastes
There are basically 3 types of wastes
 High-level wastes(HLW)
 Intermediate-level wastes(ILW)
 Low-level wastes(LLW)
High-level wastes
 produced from the burning of uranium fuel in a nuclear reactor.
 extremely radioactive and hot due to decay heat, and requires
shielding and cooling
 contains the fission products and transuranic elements generated in
the reactor core.
Intermediate-level wastes
 contain higher amounts of radioactivity and in general require
shielding, but not cooling.
 include resins, chemical sludge and metal nuclear fuel cladding, as
well as contaminated materials from reactor decommissioning.
Low-level wastes
 contain small amounts of mostly short-lived radioactivity
 Materials that originate from any region of an Active Area are
commonly designated as LLW
 generated from hospitals and industry, as well as the nuclear fuel
cycle
 Example LLW includes wiping rags, mops, medical tubes, laboratory
animal carcasses, and more
Harmful effects
Radioactive substances are highly toxic in nature . Marie Curie, the
Nobel laureate for discovery of radioactivity in 1903, became the victim
of radioactive pollution and died of leukemia.
Low level radiation exposure can cause
 skin irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of hair and nails
High level radiation exposure can cause
 acute toxicity, loss of life may occur from anaemia, infection and
hemorrhage
Radioactive pollution is increasing because of the increased use of
radioactivity. It occurs mostly from the waste products that are left
behind after the use of radioactive substances.
Case study on nuclear accidents
Mishandling of these radioactive substances can cause accidents which can pose
a serious threat to environment. Some of the major accidents that occurred :
Chernobyl disaster (April 26,1986)
 occurred in Chernobyl, Ukraine(former Soviet Union)
 due to the presence of the large positive void coefficient in the nuclear
reactor which resulted in the explosion of the reactor
 over 300,000 people were evacuated from that region
Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear disaster(March 11,2011)
 occurred in Fukushima-Daiichi nuclear power plant
 tsunami followed by an earthquake forced the plant to stop all its
fission reactions in the active nuclear reactors
 the tsunami disabled the emergency generators and hence the pumps
could not be operated and hence the reactors cannot be cooled
 the insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns and the
release of the radioactive materials
 over 1600 deaths occurred and miscarriages, stillbirths and mental
disorders in the babies after the accident
Waste Management
Nuclear waste requires sophisticated treatment and management to
successfully isolate it from interacting with the biosphere. This usually
requires treatment, followed by a long-term management strategy
involving storage, disposal or transformation of the waste into a non-
toxic form.
Ion-Exchange method
 active wastes in the nuclear industry to be treated with ion exchange
or other means to concentrate the radioactivity into a small volume.
 the radioactive bulk after treatment is then discharged
Long-term management
Geological disposal
 locate a large, stable geological formation and use mining technology
to excavate a tunnel, for the disposal of the high level wastes
 goal is to permanently isolate nuclear waste from the human
environment.

Deep-bore hole disposal

 concept of disposing of high-level radioactive waste from nuclear
reactors in extremely deep boreholes
Ocean-floor disposal
 the wastes are buried under the ocean floor normally found at depths
between 3000m and 6000m
 slowly carry the waste downward into the Earth's mantle

Re-use of wastes
 does not eliminate the need to manage radioisotopes; it can reduce
the quantity of waste produced.
 isotopes like caesium-137, strontium-90 and a few other isotopes are
extracted for certain industrial applications such as food irradiation
and radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
Conclusion
 Disposal of radioactive wastes is a complex issue, not only because of
the nature of the waste, but also because of the stringent regulatory
structure for dealing with radioactive wastes
 India has achieved self-reliance in the management of all types of
radioactive wastes
 As ongoing effort to upgrade technology to minimize radioactive
discharge is also going on