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Lessons 7: Nuclear waste and half-life

What you need to know:

  1. What is nuclear waste?

  2. How we can deal with nuclear waste.

  3. What is half-life?



    Nuclear waste is the products created during fission reactions as well as
    contaminated equipment used to handle nuclear material. Most nuclear waste in
    the UK comes from nuclear power stations and is very hazardous.

    This means that it needs to be disposed of safely so that it does not harm
    anyone. If nuclear waste was simply dumped into a sewer or a landfill site then
    it could get into the food chain and cause lots of people to become ill.

    Nuclear waste was once simply dumped at sea and pretty much forgotten about,
    but environmentalists campaigned that this practice was polluting the seas, and
    could cause long-term damage which was unacceptable. Therefore another
    method of disposing or nuclear waste was needed. Currently nuclear waste is
    stored within containers and buried in deep rock, but a permanent solution is
    still needed.

    There are three categories of nuclear waste:

        Type of waste            Strength of                  Description
                                radioactivity

    High level waste          Very strong          Spent fuels rods from a nuclear
    (HLW)                                          reactor. There is very little HLW as
                                                   it decays quickly.

    Intermediate level        Strong               HLW decays to become ILW. Less
    waste (ILW)                                    radioactive than HLW, but there is
                                                   lots of it.

    Low level waste (LLW)     Weak                 Protective equipment and clothing
                                                   used by staff at nuclear power
                                                   stations can be slightly
                                                   radioactive.



                  In your exam you may be asked what nuclear waste is.




                                     © Studydoctor 2009
The amount of radiation that a radioactive source emits every second is called its
activity. This can be heard as clicks on a detector.

The activity of a radioactive source decreases with time. This is because every
time a radioactive atom decays, it becomes more stable, meaning that there are
less radioactive atoms. This means that over time fewer and fewer radioactive
atoms exist. The half-life of a radioactive material is the time it takes for
the activity (or the amount of radioactive atoms) to decrease by half.
Different radioactive elements have different half-lives.




For example, looking at the graph above, a source of radiation has an activity of
16,000 counts at the start but after 5 minutes the activity has dropped to 8,000
counts. Its activity has halved, meaning that its half-life must be 5 minutes. In
another half-life the activity of the source will drop to 4,000 counts.

In your exam you may be asked to describe what half-life is. You may also need
   to use data contained in graphs or draw a graph to calculate a radioactive
                               source’s half-life.




                              © Studydoctor 2009
Recap:

  1. Radioactive waste is the radioactive products created in places that use radioactive
     materials.

  2. Radioactive waste is very hard to get rid of and at the moment governments are still
     trying to find a permanent solution.

  3. Half-life is the time it takes for the count rate (or the number of radioactive atoms)
     from a radioactive source to decrease by half.




                                   © Studydoctor 2009

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P6 nuclear-waste-and-half-life1

  • 1. Lessons 7: Nuclear waste and half-life What you need to know: 1. What is nuclear waste? 2. How we can deal with nuclear waste. 3. What is half-life? Nuclear waste is the products created during fission reactions as well as contaminated equipment used to handle nuclear material. Most nuclear waste in the UK comes from nuclear power stations and is very hazardous. This means that it needs to be disposed of safely so that it does not harm anyone. If nuclear waste was simply dumped into a sewer or a landfill site then it could get into the food chain and cause lots of people to become ill. Nuclear waste was once simply dumped at sea and pretty much forgotten about, but environmentalists campaigned that this practice was polluting the seas, and could cause long-term damage which was unacceptable. Therefore another method of disposing or nuclear waste was needed. Currently nuclear waste is stored within containers and buried in deep rock, but a permanent solution is still needed. There are three categories of nuclear waste: Type of waste Strength of Description radioactivity High level waste Very strong Spent fuels rods from a nuclear (HLW) reactor. There is very little HLW as it decays quickly. Intermediate level Strong HLW decays to become ILW. Less waste (ILW) radioactive than HLW, but there is lots of it. Low level waste (LLW) Weak Protective equipment and clothing used by staff at nuclear power stations can be slightly radioactive. In your exam you may be asked what nuclear waste is. © Studydoctor 2009
  • 2. The amount of radiation that a radioactive source emits every second is called its activity. This can be heard as clicks on a detector. The activity of a radioactive source decreases with time. This is because every time a radioactive atom decays, it becomes more stable, meaning that there are less radioactive atoms. This means that over time fewer and fewer radioactive atoms exist. The half-life of a radioactive material is the time it takes for the activity (or the amount of radioactive atoms) to decrease by half. Different radioactive elements have different half-lives. For example, looking at the graph above, a source of radiation has an activity of 16,000 counts at the start but after 5 minutes the activity has dropped to 8,000 counts. Its activity has halved, meaning that its half-life must be 5 minutes. In another half-life the activity of the source will drop to 4,000 counts. In your exam you may be asked to describe what half-life is. You may also need to use data contained in graphs or draw a graph to calculate a radioactive source’s half-life. © Studydoctor 2009
  • 3. Recap: 1. Radioactive waste is the radioactive products created in places that use radioactive materials. 2. Radioactive waste is very hard to get rid of and at the moment governments are still trying to find a permanent solution. 3. Half-life is the time it takes for the count rate (or the number of radioactive atoms) from a radioactive source to decrease by half. © Studydoctor 2009