EAS205 Chapter Notes - Chapter 16: High-Level Radioactive Waste Management, Water Cycle, Subduction
13 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Radioacive isotopes decay in many ways that release energy, making the material hot. The process of decay can"t be sped up, so it takes a long ime for these wastes to. These wastes need to be isolated for a certain amount of become safe. ime. These wastes can be nuclear reactors, weapons manufacture, medical treatments, mine tailings and geophysical well-logging tools: low level wastes: Low level of radioacivity due to low concentraions. These wastes are either vented directly to the atmosphere or are diluted-and-dispersed. The rest of the wastes are put in controlled sites in cells. The sites are similar to sanitary landills and has the following characterisics: minimal precipitaion, deep water table, moderate permeability, heat not a factor, liquids are either solidiied or mixed with a sorbent: high level wastes: All of these wastes are currently stored. They require isolaion for 1000s of years, no maintenance, a high guarantee of success and a short-term retrieval potenial.
