Nuclear power proves to be beneficial, but some risks also come with it. This article discusses how nuclear waste negatively affects the environment.

1. THE IMPACT OF
NUCLEAR WASTE ON
THE ENVIRONMENT
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2. The Impact of Nuclear Waste on the Environment
The Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima perfectly illustratethe severe
impact of nuclear power on the environment. While these history-altering
events have different causes, it is important to note that humankind has a
double-edged sword in their hands. Nuclear power proves to be beneficial, but
some risks also come with it.
Nations that use nuclear power face the same dilemma: disposal. Nuclear
waste is difficult to dispose of because of the half-lives of the elements that
make it up. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), half-life is
the time required for the disintegration of one-half of the radioactive atoms
present when a measurement starts. To put it in perspective, Uranium 235 has
a half-life of 703.8 million years. This means that the element will remain a
hazard until it fully disintegrates after 7 billion years.
Nuclear waste disposal is
not disposal per se; it is
actually the management of
the nuclear waste until it
becomes non-threatening to
humans. But what happens
when the disposal and the
decay of the nuclear waste is
mishandled?

3. The Effects
The mishandling of nuclear waste affects the environment in different ways
depending on the elemental make-up of the waste. Greenpeace saysthat the
production of the nuclear weapons has polluted vast amounts of soil and water. It
releases substances such as plutonium, uranium, strontium, caesium, benzene,
mercury, and cyanide.
Nuclear plants use a cooling system that produces waste heat. While nuclear
plants do not necessarily contribute to the build-up of greenhouse gases, the waste
heat can increase the temperature of urban heat islands, or the areas that are
warmer than their immediate environment. Its effects on humans and animals are
also well documented—it increases the odds of cancer.
The Clean-Up Procedures
There are two known categories of cleaning and disposing of nuclear waste:
ground clean-up and water clean-up. Ground clean-up involves the washing of the
contaminated soil. Once the contaminated soil is extracted, it will be buried in
landfills.

4. Water remediation, on the other hand, uses the filtering method. This, however, is
only applicable to waters with low contamination levels. Other techniques are boiling and
the use of electrodialysis.
Cleaning the nuclear waste is difficult, as its elemental or chemical composition do
not decay easily. But it is great to know that the public and the private sectors are
teaming up to resolve this problem.
SOURCES:
http://www.epa.gov/radiation/understand/halflife.html
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/peace/abolish-nuclear-
weapons/the-damage/
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