Nuclear waste is classified into three categories based on radioactivity levels: low-level, intermediate-level, and high-level radioactive waste. High-level radioactive waste is the most dangerous and accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity from nuclear power generation. Governments are considering long-term management and disposal options for nuclear waste, such as deep borehole disposal and vitrification, but many solutions have not been implemented due to technical and social challenges. Proper treatment and isolation of nuclear waste is crucial to prevent interaction with the biosphere.

1. Presented By
RENJINI CHANDRAN

2. The nuclear wastes are radio- active
substances which are released from atomic
reactors of nuclear power stations. When
these substances are released into water , air
or earth as a result of human activity either
by accident or by intention is called nuclear
hazards or nuclear waste.

3.  Nuclear weapon testing
 Nuclear fuel being used in atomic reactor
 Accidental release of nuclear material from
nuclear power plants

4. Nuclear waste is segregated into several
classifications.
 Low Level Radioactive Waste
 Intermediate –Level Waste
 High Level Radioactive Waste

5. Low level radio active
waste(LLW) is generated
from hospitals and
industry, as well as the
nuclear fuel cycle. Low-level
wastes include paper,
rags, tools, clothing, filters,
and other materials which
contain small amounts of
mostly short-lived
radioactivity. Low level
radio active waste normally
contain small amount of
radioactivity dispersed in
large volume of material

6. Intermediate-level waste (ILW) contains higher
amounts of radioactivity Intermediate-level
wastes includes resins, chemical sludge and
metal nuclear fuel cladding, as well as
contaminated materials from reactor
decommissioning. It may be solidified in
concrete or bitumen for disposal. As a general
rule, short-lived waste is buried in shallow
repositories, while long-lived waste (from fuel
and fuel reprocessing) is deposited in
geological repository.

7. (HLW) is produced by nuclear reactors. After
a nuclear fuel rod serves one fuel cycle and is
removed from the core, it is considered HLW.
Fuel rods contain fission products and
transuranic elements generated in the reactor
core. Spent fuel is highly radioactive and often
hot.

8.  HLW accounts for over 95 percent of the total
radioactivity produced in the process of
nuclear electricity generation. The amount of
HLW worldwide is currently increasing by
about 12,000 metric tons every year, which is
the equivalent to about 100 double-decker
buses.

9. Nuclear waste management are two long-lived
fission products, which dominate spent fuel
radioactivity after a few thousand years. Nuclear
waste requires sophisticated treatment and
management to successfully isolate it from
interacting with the biosphere. This usually
necessitates treatment, followed by a long-term
management strategy involving storage, disposal
or transformation of the waste into a non-toxic
form. Governments around the world are
considering a range of waste management and
disposal options, though there has been limited
progress toward long-term waste management
solutions.

10.  Long term above ground storage, not
implemented.
 Disposal in outer space, not implemented.
 Deep borehole disposal, not implemented.
 Rock-melting, not implemented.
 Disposal at subduction zones, not implemented.
 Ocean disposal, done by the, the United Kingdom,
Switzerland,& many other countries
 Sub seabed disposal, not implemented, not
permitted by international agreements.
 Disposal in ice sheets.
 Direct injection

11.  Vitrification
Long-term storage of radioactive waste
requires the stabilization of the waste into a
form which will neither react nor degrade for
extended periods of time. One way to do this is
through vitrification. Currently at Sellafield the
high-level waste is mixed with sugar and then
calcined. Calcination involves passing the waste
through a heated, rotating tube. The purposes
of calcination are to evaporate the water from
the waste, and de-nitrate the fission products
to assist the stability of the glass produced.

12.  It is common for medium active wastes in the
nuclear industry to be treated with ion
exchange or other means to concentrate the
radioactivity into a small volume. The much
less radioactive bulk (after treatment) is often
then discharged. For instance, it is possible
to use a ferric hydroxide to remove
radioactive metals from aqueous mixtures.

13. Above-ground disposal
Dry cask storage typically involves taking waste
from a spent fuel pool and sealing it in a steel
cylinder, which is placed in a concrete cylinder
which acts as a radiation shield. It is a
relatively inexpensive method which can be
done at a central facility or adjacent to the
source reactor. The waste can be easily
retrieved for reprocessing

14.  Ocean disposal
From 1946 through 1993, thirteen countries
(fourteen, if the USSR and Russia are
considered separately) used ocean disposal or
ocean dumping as a method to dispose of
nuclear/radioactive waste. The waste materials
included both liquids and solids housed in
various containers, as well as reactor vessels,
with and without spent or damaged nuclear
fuel. Since 1993, ocean disposal has been
banned by international treaties.

15.  Deep borehole disposal is the concept of
disposing of high-level radioactive waste
from nuclear reactors in extremely deep
boreholes. Deep borehole disposal seeks to
place the waste as much as 5 kilometres
(3.1 mi) beneath the surface of the Earth and
relies primarily on the immense natural
geological barrier to confine the waste safely
and permanently so that it should never pose
a threat to the environment.

16.  Another option is to find applications for the
isotopes in nuclear waste so as to re-use
them.

17.  Space disposal is attractive because it removes
nuclear waste from the planet. It has
significant disadvantages, such as the
potential for catastrophic failure of a launch
vehicle, which could spread radioactive
material into the atmosphere and around the
world.