Radioactive Waste (Oxford AQA IGCSE Combined Science Double Award)

Radioactive Waste

• The products formed during nuclear reactions may also be radioactive

• Some of these products may have a long half-life and so will remain radioactive for long periods of time

• The biggest problem associated with using nuclear power for generating electricity is the waste that it produces

  • This is an important factor which influences the use of nuclear power

• The waste comprises of the unusable fission products from the fission of uranium-235, plutonium-239, or from spent fuel rods

  • This is because each fission of a uranium-235 or plutonium-239 nucleus results in two smaller nuclei being produced

• Unusable fission products are by far the most dangerous type of waste as they will remain radioactive for thousands of years due to their long half-life

  • These smaller (daughter) nuclei are both highly radioactive – more radioactive, in fact than the original fuel

• As well as being highly radioactive, the spent fuel roads are extremely hot and must be handled and stored much more carefully than the other types of waste

• Whilst the amount of waste produced (relative to the amount of energy generated) is fairly small, the waste is extremely dangerous

  • Therefore, the waste must be stored underground till it is no longer harmful

Storing nuclear waste underground

Chernobyl nuclear disaster

• Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant is in Ukraine

• In 1986 an incident at the plant caused an explosion

• The explosion occurred during a safety test in which the control rods were removed

• A large amount of radioactive material was released from the plant and went into the air

• Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated from the surrounding area to protect them from being contaminated

• An exclusion zone of around 2,600 square kilometres is still in place around the power plant

  • This is because the level of radiation in the area is still very high