CHEM 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Dry Cask Storage, Radon, Rems
Document Summary
Nuclear reactor control rods are made of neutron absorbing material. Nuclear fuel rods are most radioactive when they are removed from a nuclear reactor after several years of producing energy to generate electricity. Spent fuel was to be taken to a stable location (no ground water) safely, and buried underground forever. No location wanted this, so the alternative choice of burying it somewhere is putting it in a dry cask storage. These are stood up by waste storage pools, standing on a reinforced concrete bed. The issue of nuclear waste still needs to be addressed. Nuclear waste disposal was proposed as yucea mountain project in nevada. Radiation is measured in units called sieverts (sv) and rems. Natural sources of ionizing radiation include cosmic rays, radon, potassium, carbon, uranium, thorium, medical x-rays, nuclear medicine, and consumer products (smoke detectors, granite countertops, phosphate fertilizers). Radioactive isotopes undergo decay until they reach a stable species.
