Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Radioactive Waste |
Radioactive WasteNoun1. Useless radioactive materials that are left after some laboratory or commercial process is completed. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
| Domain | Definitions |
Energy | Materials left over from making nuclear energy. Radioactive waste can living organisms if it is not stored safely. (references) |
Mining | Equipment and materials from nuclear operations that are radioactive and for which there is no further use. Wastes are generally referred to as high-level (having radioactivity concentrations of hundreds to thousands of curies per gallon or per cubic foot); low-level (in the range of 1 microcurie per gallon or per cubic foot); and intermediate (between theseextremes). (references) |
Nuclear Energy & Physics | Unwanted radioactive materials obtained in the processing or handling of radioactive materials, or after their utilisation. Source: European Union. (references) |
| Any material which contains or is contaminated by radio-nuclides and for which no use is foreseen. Source: European Union. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Radioactive waste is waste material containing radioactive chemical elements which does not have a practical purpose. It is often the product of a nuclear process, such as nuclear fission. Waste can also be generated from the processing of fuel for nuclear reactors or nuclear weapons.
The radioactivity of all nuclear waste decays with time. All radioisotopes contained in the waste have a half-life - the time it takes for any radionuclide to lose half of its radioactivity. Eventually all waste decays into non-radioactive elements.
The faster a radioisotope is decaying, the more radioactive it will be. The factor in deciding how dangerous a pure radioactive substance will be is the energy of the radiation. Some decays yield more energy than others. This is further complicated by the fact that few radioisotopes decay immediately to a stable state, but rather to a radioactive decay product leading to decay chains.
The main objective in managing and disposing of radioactive (or other) waste is to protect people and the environment. This means isolating or diluting the waste so that the rate or concentration of any radionuclides returned to the biosphere is harmless. To achieve this for the more dangerous wastes, the preferred technology to date has been deep and secure burial. Transmutation, long-term retrievable storage, and removal to space have also been suggested.
Low level Waste (LLW) is generated from hospitals and industry, as well as the nuclear fuel cycle. It comprises paper, rags, tools, clothing, filters etc which contain small amounts of mostly short-lived radioactivity. It does not require shielding during handling and transport and is suitable for shallow land burial. To reduce its volume, it is often compacted or incinerated before disposal.
Intermediate level Waste (ILW) contains higher amounts of radioactivity and some requires shielding. It typically comprises resins, chemical sludges and metal fuel cladding, as well as contaminated materials from reactor decommissioning. It may be solidified in concrete or bitumen for disposal. Generally short lived waste (mainly from reactors) is buried in a shallow repository, while long lived waste (from fuel reprocessing) will be disposed of deep underground.
High level Waste (HLW) arises from the use of uranium fuel in a nuclear reactor and nuclear weapons processing. It contains the fission products and transuranic elements generated in the reactor core. It is highly radioactive and hot. It can be considered the "ash" from "burning" uranium. HLW accounts for over 95% of the total radioactivity produced in the process of nuclear electricity generation.
Uranium oxide concentrate from mining is not significantly radioactive - barely more so than the granite used in buildings. It is refined to form yellowcake (U3O8), then converted to uranium hexafluoride gas (UF6). As a gas, it undergoes enrichment to increase the U-235 content from 0.7% to about 3.5%. It is then turned into a hard ceramic oxide (UO2) for assembly as reactor fuel elements.
The main by-product of enrichment is depleted uranium, principally the U-238 isotope, which is stored, either as UF6 or as U3O8. Some is used in applications where its extremely high density makes it valuable, such as the keels of yachts, and artillery shells. It is also used (with recycled plutonium) for making mixed oxide fuel and to dilute highly enriched uranium from weapons stockpiles which is now being redirected to become reactor fuel.
High-level radioactive waste is stored temporarily in spent fuel pools and in dry cask storage facilities.
In 1997, in the 20 countries which account for most of the world's nuclear power generation, spent fuel storage capacity at the reactors was 148,000 tonnes, with 59% of this utilised. Away-from-reactor storage capacity was 78,000 tonnes, with 44% utilised. Annual arisings are about 12,000 tonnes. Final disposal is therefore not urgent.
France is furthest ahead with preparation for HLW disposal. In 1989 and 1992 it commissioned commercial plants to vitrify HLW left over from reprocessing oxide fuel, although there are adequate facilities elsewhere, notably in the UK and Belgium. The capacity of these western European plants is 2,500 canisters (1000 t) a year, and some have been operating for 18 years.
The Australian Synroc (synthetic rock) is a more sophisticated way to immobilize such waste, and this process may eventually come into commercial use for civil wastes (it is curently being developed for US military wastes).
The process of selecting appropriate deep final repositories is now under way in several countries with the first expected to be commissioned some time after 2010. Sweden is well advanced with plans for direct disposal of spent fuel, since its Parliament decided that this is acceptably safe, using existing technology. In Germany, there is a political discussion about the search for an endlager (final repository) for radioactive waste, accompanied by loud protests especially in the Gorleben village in the Wendland area, which was seen ideal for the final repository until 1990 because its location next to the border to the former GDR. Actually this place is used to store radioactive waste non-permanently. The US has opted for a final repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. There is also a proposal for an international HLW repository in optimum geology - Australia or Russia are possible locations - however, when the proposal for a global repository for Australia has been raised domestic political objections have been loud and sustained, making such a dump in Australia unlikely.
Types of radioactive waste
Wastes from nuclear reactor fuel processing
Disposing of high-level wastes
References
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Radioactive waste."
Synonym: Radioactive WasteSynonym: Radioactive wastes. (additional references) |
Crosswords: Radioactive Waste |
| English words defined with "radioactive waste": high-level radioactive waste ♦ low-level radioactive waste. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "radioactive waste": Bulky Waste ♦ Decon, DECONTAMINATOR, DISPATCHER, RADIOACTIVE-WASTE-DISPOSAL ♦ glassification ♦ High-Level Nuclear Waste Facility ♦ LABORATORY-SAMPLE CARRIER ♦ Nuclear waste ♦ RADIATION-PROTECTION ENGINEER, Radioactive Pollutants, radiological weapon ♦ sample gatherer ♦ ultimate radioactive waste disposal site ♦ Viability assessment ♦ WASTE-DISPOSAL ATTENDANT, WASTE-MANAGEMENT ENGINEER, RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS, WASTE-TREATMENT OPERATOR. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | We have rules against radioactive waste. (Batman Beyond; writing credit: Hilary Bader; Stan Berkowitz) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Periodicals |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | A "glove box" in the plant for handling radioactive waste. / WHO p.Credit: National Library of Medicine; photo by E. Mandelmann.. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Cobalt 60 may also be disposed of as a radioactive waste. (references) | |
The food irradiation facilities themselves do not become radioactive, and do not create radioactive waste. (references) | ||
Business | With few exceptions, mining waste does not appear in the waste management statistics, neither does radioactive waste. (references) | |
Economic History | Bulgaria | Another potential best prospect is for radioactive waste treatment and interim storage at the Kozloduy NPP site. (references) |
Dominican Rep | Under the foreign investment law, foreign investment is permitted in all sectors except the following: disposal and storage of toxic, hazardous or radioactive waste not produced in the country; activities affecting public health and the ecological equilibrium of the country; and, the production of materials and equipment directly linked to national security without authorization from the president. (references) | |
Hong Kong | To cope with Hong Kong's environmental-infrastructure requirements, the government anticipates awarding over US$880 million in project contracts from 2001-2003. Projects include: municipal sewage treatment systems and related equipment (US$430 million); one refuse transfer station (US$40 million); two landfill-restoration sites (US$90 million); two one-million tons per year waste-to-energy incinerators (US$300 million); and a low-level radioactive waste storage facility (US$20 million). (references) | |
Human Rights | Russia | Pasko originally was charged with treason and espionage after reporting on radioactive contamination caused by the Pacific Fleet's dumping of radioactive waste into the Sea of Japan. (references) |
Political Economy | PERU | The following imports are banned: several insecticides, fireworks, used clothing, used shoes, used tires, radioactive waste, cars over five years old, and trucks over eight years old. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
Expression using "radioactive waste": ultimate radioactive waste disposal site. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day |
radioactive waste | 38 |
radioactive waste disposal | 13 |
disposal option radioactive waste | 4 |
radioactive waste management | 4 |
radioactive waste container | 3 |
liquid radioactive waste | 3 |
low level radioactive waste | 2 |
cleanup radioactive waste | 2 |
high level radioactive waste | 2 |
floor lava ocean radioactive waste | 2 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Language | Translations for "radioactive waste"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Arabic | النفابات الملوثة بالإشعاع. (various references) | |
Danish | radioaktivt affald (radwaste). (various references) | |
Dutch | radioactieve afvalstoffen, radioactief afval (radwaste). (various references) | |
Finnish | radioaktiivinen jäte. (various references) | |
French | déchets radioactifs (radwaste). (various references) | |
German | radioaktiver Abfall (radwaste), radioaktive Abfälle. (various references) | |
Greek | ραδιενεργό απόβλητο, ραδιενεργά απόβλητα (radwaste), πυρηνικά απόβλητα (nuclear waste). (various references) | |
Italian | rifiuti radioattivi (radwaste), residui radioattivi (radwaste), scorie radioattive (radwaste), scarichi radioattivi (radiological releases, radwaste). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | "射性廃棄物 . (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ほうしゃせいはいきぶつ. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | adioactiveray asteway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | resíduos radioactivos (radwaste). (various references) | |
Spanish | residuos radiactivos (radwaste), desechos radioactivos (radwaste). (various references) | |
Swedish | radioaktivt avfall i matrix av glasmassa (radioactive waste encased in vitreous matrices). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-a-c-d-e-e-i-i-o-r-s-t-t-v-w" | |
-4 letters: deactivators. | |
-5 letters: deactivates, deactivator, distractive, divaricates, radioactive, reactivated, reactivates, recitatives, recitativos, waistcoated. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
Hexadecimal (or equivalents, 770AD-1900s) (references)52 61 64 69 6F 61 63 74 69 76 65 57 61 73 74 65 |
| Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519; backwards) (references)
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Binary Code (1918-1938, probably earlier) (references)01010010 01100001 01100100 01101001 01101111 01100001 01100011 01110100 01101001 01110110 01100101 00100000 01010111 01100001 01110011 01110100 01100101 |
HTML Code (1990) (references)R a d i o a c t i v e   W a s t e |
ISO 10646 (1991-1993) (references)0052 0061 0064 0069 006F 0061 0063 0074 0069 0076 0065 0057 0061 0073 0074 0065 |
Encryption (beginner's substitution cypher): (references)526770758167698675887125767858671 |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Quotations: Non-fiction 8. Expressions | 9. Expressions: Internet 10. Translations: Modern 11. Anagrams 12. Orthography | 13. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
