High-level Nuclear Waste: A Safe, Permanent Solution

Nuclear Energy: A Clean, Domestic Source of Electricity

Electricity helps us enjoy many pleasures and conveniences each day: our refrigerators, personal computers. Electricity also powers modern life-saving medical equipment. And it fuels the industries that help our economy thrive.

America has more than 100 nuclear power plants. They supply nearly 20 percent of our nation's electric power, second only to coal. In some states, nuclear energy supplies over half of all electricity. And through our interconnected electric supply system, nearly every American gets some electricity from nuclear power plants.

That's important for America. Nuclear energy is a secure domestic resource that reduces our dependence on imported oil, saving us billions of dollars in payments to foreign oil suppliers.

Nuclear energy is also one of the cleanest ways to produce electricity. It doesn't create air pollution or greenhouse gases. It doesn't contribute to urban smog or acid rain.

Like any industrial or scientific process, nuclear energy does produce waste. The most radioactive is called "high-level" waste (because it has high levels of radioactivity).

What Is High Level Waste?

Ninety-nine percent of high-level waste from commercial nuclear power plants is simply used nuclear fuel which has released its energy.

The fuel that runs nuclear power plants is made up of small, uranium pellets. These are placed inside long metal fuel rods. These rods are grouped together into fuel assemblies, which are placed inside the reactor.

Then begins a process called fission. Uranium atoms, one after another, begin to split in a chain reaction. Fission yields a tremendous amount of energy in the form of heat. This heat is used to boil water into steam, which drives a turbine-generator to produce electricity.

Certain changes take place in the fuel during the fission process. Most of the fragments of fission-the pieces left over after the atom has split-are radioactive. Over time, these trapped fission fragments reduce the efficiency of the chain reaction. So, about every 18 months, the oldest fuel assemblies, which have already released their energy, are removed and replaced with fresh fuel.

Nuclear Waste Volumes Are Small

A typical nuclear power plant produces about 30 tons of used fuel each year. This is not a large amount: all the used fuel produced by all America's nuclear power plants since the first one started operating over 30 years ago would cover an area the size of a football field about five yards deep. All of America's nuclear power plants produce only about 3,000 tons of used fuel every year. By contrast, the U.S. produces about 300 million tons of chemical waste every year. Unlike nuclear waste, which slowly loses its radioactivity, much of this chemical waste remains hazardous forever.

Waste Stored Safely Now

After it is removed from the reactor, used fuel is stored at nuclear plant sites in steel-lined, concrete vaults filled with water. The water cools the used fuel and acts as a shield, to protect workers from radiation. This used fuel looks just like it did when it was placed in the reactor. The radioactive waste remains locked inside the uranium pellets, which are still encased in the metal fuel rods.

This used fuel has been stored safely at nuclear plant sites ever since the late 1950s, when the first nuclear power plants began making electricity. What is needed is a permanent repository for existing and future high-level waste.

Scientists Agree on Deep Underground Disposal

Geologic repositories deep underground have been endorsed by independent scientific organizations around the world, including the National Academy of Sciences, the National Research Council, and the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Nearly every other country with a nuclear energy program, including Germany, France, Japan and Sweden, has determined that deep geologic disposal is the safest system of permanent nuclear waste management.

Tough Standards, Careful Study

In the U.S., Congress passed the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, signed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. This landmark legislation set forth a complete program to build the nation's first underground high-level waste repository early in the next century. In 1987, lawmakers designated Yucca Mountain, Nevada, in a remote area northwest of Las Vegas, for study as a possible location. If Yucca Mountain is suitable, a repository will be built 1,000 feet underground, where waste will be carefully isolated from man and the environment. The U.S. Department of Energy is in charge of this program, which is paid for by a special fee on all nuclear electricity.

But before the site can be approved, the government must have scientific proof that public health and safety will be protected. The Department of Energy will spend billions of dollars for comprehensive site studies at Yucca Mountain, including detailed surface mapping, geophysical studies, deep exploratory drilling, and hydro-geological surveys. These studies will be conducted by scientists at such organizations as the U.S. Geological Survey, Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratory.

Once site evaluation is completed, the facility must meet strict licensing requirements of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Additional oversight will be provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the State of Nevada, and a Technical Review Board appointed by the President.

Multiple Barriers Isolate the Waste

Scientists have been studying radiation for nearly a century, and they know how to detect and control even the smallest amount. They know that as time passes, most radioactive elements become harmless, non-radioactive substances. But until then, radioactive waste could be dangerous if it got into our air, drinking water or food. The only way this could happen would be if groundwater somehow entered the repository, dissolved some of the waste, and carried it to the surface.

Scientists and engineers know how to prevent this from ever happening. First they choose a site like Yucca Mountain with minimal rainfall and groundwater. Then, they build a repository with multiple barriers-both natural and man-made-to isolate the waste far from our environment.

Remember, the radioactive waste remains immobilized inside the uranium fuel pellets, locked inside the metal fuel rods. Then, the waste is sealed inside multiple layers of thick-walled steel and other impervious materials. It will be buried 1,000 feet or more underground, where nature will add her own protections: an arid climate, groundrock that inhibits water movement, and a long history of geologic stability. In addition, highly-trained engineers with sophisticated instruments will monitor the repository to ensure its continuing safety.

Safety Proven By Experience

How can we know it is safe to store spent fuel underground? Nature herself has told us so. Almost two billion years ago, a spontaneous nuclear chain reaction occurred in a rich vein of uranium ore in the Gabon Republic in West Africa. When it ended, radioactive waste lay within a repository created by nature. Millenia passed, earthquakes shook the earth, and rains soaked deep into, the land. Yet the waste remained safely isolated underground, far from man and nature.

What nature did accidentally, man today can achieve technologically. The feasibility of underground waste repositories has been demonstrated in studies and test projects for more than three decades. In the early 1980s, scientists successfully isolated high-level waste 1,400 feet underground in the abandoned Climax Mine in Nevada, about 20 miles from Yucca Mountain. They carefully studied how the stored waste affected the surrounding rock. The results clearly showed that used fuel could be safely isolated underground without harm to man or the environment.

A Secure Tomorrow

Nuclear energy is a powerful force which should never be treated lightly. But neither should its risks be exaggerated. The technology exists to isolate high-level waste safely and responsibly, without harm to man or the environment. Creating a permanent repository will help ensure that-with the help of nuclear energy-our nation will have clean, abundant electricity in the years ahead.

US Council on Energy Awareness (8/93)

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