How are nuclear energy waste products produced?

Answer 1

Most of the waste, and all what is called high level waste, is in the spent fuel. When the fuel is unloaded from the reactor it is put in a pool of water where the residual heat can be absorbed. This is on the station site. Subsequent handling depends very much on the national policy for handling nuclear waste. Eventually it should end up in a safe underground store which will be geologically stable for a very long time, ie not subject to earthquakes, flooding etc.

Some low level waste will also occur depending on the type of reactor, and this can be stored on site or sent to a national store. It is sufficient just to bury this type of waste in an underground concrete store, it won't need cooling.

Answer 2

When fuel pins become depleted, because the fissile fuel in them has mostly been used up and they will no longer sustain a chain reaction, they are discharged and stored in cooling tanks under water. These fuel pins contain the most high level waste and are highly radioactive. Other small quantities of radioactive waste arise from chemical treatment of the primary circuit cooling water.

Answer 3

For all the sophisticated science, technology and engineering, a nuclear power plant is essentially a big teapot. The controlled nuclear reaction generates heat that is used to boil water. The steam powers turbines that generate electricity.

Answer 4

The reaction in a nuclear reactor happens because neutrons hit the nuclei of atoms, which can divide, producing energy, new atoms, and more neutrons.

When a neutron hits the nucleus of an atom, four different things can happen. In the case of most collisions with the nuclei of non-radioactive atoms and some radioactive atoms, the neutron imparts some of its energy to the atom and bounces off.

In some cases the neutron is trapped in the nucleus, changing the atom from its isotope to the next heavier isotope. This usually means the atom becomes less stable and will quickly decay or undergo fission.

In some cases the neutron simply causes the atom to decay.

In some cases the neutron causes the atom to undergo fission.

When an atom decays it loses mass and nearly always changes to a different element. Sometimes it emits an alpha particle and in so doing it drops 2 in atomic number and 4 in isotope. An example is when uranium-238 (atomic number 92) becomes Thorium-234 (atomic number 90)

Sometimes it emits a beta particle, and when this happens its atomic number increases by one, but the isotope number stays the same. An example is when thorium-234 (atomic number 90) becomes protactinium 234 (atomic number 91).

The decay of an atom is a long, multi-stepped process that ultimately ends with a radiologically inert isotope, such as lead-208.

Fission happens when the atom, such as uranium-235, is divided into two daughter atoms with a combined mass somewhat less than the original. This process is rather unpredictable as to what atoms are produced, but they are typically radioactive. An example is uranium-235 dividing to produce barium-141 and krypton-92 (notice these atomic numbers add to 233, slightly less than the uranium's number). The by products of fission are all waste, as are the atoms they decay into.

Nuclear waste is short lived, which usually decays in a spent fuel pool; medium lived, which usually decays in a couple hundred years; or long lived, which can last for millions of years. All of it remains dangerous as long as it is appreciably radioactive.

Answer 5

The nuclear reaction makes heat, which is used to make steam from water, the steam drives turbines that are conected to generators that produce ellectricity.

Answer 6

The most significant part is the spent fuel which is highly radioactive and must be stored away from the possibility of people becoming exposed to it, for centuries to come.