Shadowing Practice: What Happens To Nuclear Waste? - Learn English Speaking with Video

When you pass a nuclear power plant in the distance as you drive down the road, it's impossible not to think about the power that those towering buildings hold.

Scientist Enrico Fermi supervised the opening of the first nuclear reactor in 1942, and now our landscapes are dotted by mighty nuclear power plants.

These powerful energy plants provide over a fifth of the United States' electricity

and don't have the carbon footprint of other energy sources like coal and fossil fuels, so why not build more?

One reason?

Nuclear waste and radioactivity.

When managed correctly, nuclear power plants are processing powerful radioactive energy

that needs to be disposed of correctly to keep the environment and the people handling it safe.

And if someone wasn't handling the planet's safety correctly, like a certain bald bumbler from Springfield, things could go very badly.

Dope.

The risks of nuclear energy become crystal clear in 1979 in Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania, at the Three Mile Island nuclear plant.

While the reactors were stable, a failure in the mechanical systems regulating the safe venting of gases broke down

and allowed a large amount of nuclear reactor coolant to escape.

That led to a partial meltdown of reactor two, creating a major radiation leak near the city of Harrisburg.

A voluntary evacuation of a 20 -mile radius around the plant followed.

Thankfully, no one in the plant was injured and later tests showed no increased risk of cancer, but it took 15 years to clean up the surrounding area.

It It remains the worst nuclear accident in United States history, but is dwarfed by the massive nuclear meltdown at Chernobyl

which caused major casualties and rendered areas surrounding the Ukrainian plant uninhabitable to this day.

Given the risks, it's no surprise that nuclear waste and by -products are strictly regulated by the government.

Modern nuclear plants keep waste to a minimum by recycling used fuel back into the uranium -based and mixed oxide fuel,

but 4 % of nuclear waste can't be processed and remains highly radioactive.

Radioactivity is a waiting game as the toxic quality of the waste decreases over time,

measured in half -life, or the time it takes for a radioactive substance to reduce to half of its nuclear value.

The time it takes for nuclear waste to neutralize varies wildly.

Some common isotopes, like strontium -90, have a half -life of around 30 years,

but other powerful artificial nuclear isotopes like plutonium -239 have a half -life of over over 20 ,000 years.

Not only is it radioactive enough to kill anyone exposed to it, but it could be an unpleasant surprise for whoever digs it up in the far future.

Nuclear power plants operate in 31 countries, including all of the world's largest economies, and much of Asia and Africa are planning new builds.

The regulation of nuclear waste is overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency's Joint Convention on Spent Fuel Management, and they work to keep the world safe life.

The risks of exposure to nuclear waste include higher risk of cancer, higher risk of birth defects in pregnant women, and in high concentrations, organ failure, and death.

Most nuclear waste comes from nuclear power plants and nuclear arms, but medical and industrial waste and natural radioactive materials also pose a risk.

Nuclear waste comes from two main sources, front -end and back -end.

Front -end nuclear waste comes from the extraction of uranium and contains radium.

The depleted uranium that comes from it is extremely dense

and is often recycled into anti -tank shells and other metals where extreme durability is needed.

Back -end nuclear waste comes from spent fuel rods and is packed with beta and gamma radiation.

These powerful energies come with extremely long half -lives and are formed in nuclear reactors.

Some of the most challenging waste to dispose of comes from nuclear weapons materials, and the plutonium used to create these powerful bombs is extremely difficult to separate and isolate.

That makes nuclear weapon disposal a growing concern, especially in the aftermath of the Cold War when the US and Russia drastically slashed their nuclear arsenals.

The world is less likely to end now, but what are we going to do with all those things that can end the world?

The classification of nuclear waste determines the priority level of the processing and disposal.

The lowest priority nuclear waste is uranium mill tailings, which are created by the rough processing of uranium ore.

While they don't contain a high level of radioactivity, they have long half -lives and are full of metals with other health risks like arsenic and lead.

Low -level waste is the most common waste type because it's anything that came into contact with radioactivity.

Common in hospitals and processing plants, it can include paper, clothing, tools, and filters that are used by people working with nuclear energy.

These objects pick up trace levels of radioactivity and should be disposed of safely instead of being processed with standard trash.

Intermediate waste is usually the byproduct of nuclear processing and is harder to dispose of than low -level waste.

Resins, chemical sludge, and metal coverings

that have been exposed to nuclear energy long -term pick up the harmful radioactivity and the hazardous nature builds over time.

When breaking down a nuclear reactor for decommissioning, even the building materials surrounding the core can build up radioactivity.

Before disposing of this waste, it should be safely shielded to prevent exposure.

Then there's high -level waste, and this is what everyone thinks about when they hear about nuclear power plants.

The alarms start blaring, the hazmat suits go on, high -level nuclear waste is as radioactive as you think.

But the good news is, there are effective ways to contain it.

When a nuclear fuel rod serves its purpose and is taken out of the core, it becomes high -level waste.

While the number of high -level waste objects is small compared to the other classes,

the level of radioactivity is so high that it accounts for over 95 % of total radioactivity caused by nuclear energy.

While most radioactive isotopes produced by high -level waste are high -powered but have a short half -life,

the presence of isotopes like plutonium makes it critical to ensure it's contained safely.

So what's the best way to dispose of nuclear waste?

That's what nuclear energy -using countries have been arguing over for decades.

Most experts say the best solution for long -term disposal is

by constructing a deep underground facility similar to a mine

that can contain large amounts of high -level waste away from humans and be sealed up in between disposals.

But that's easier said than done, and no country has finished one, although Finland is close to completing their Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository on the west coast.

Currently countries use a number of alternative systems that are considered safe, but imperfect.

The first step to minimize the impact of nuclear waste on the environment is to neutralize it as much as possible.

This is done by processing it and stabilizing it into a form that loses its explosive properties.

Some countries mix the waste with sugar and then calcinate it into a solid object by processing it through a rotating tube.

Turned into glass, the waste products are then bonded to the other molecules and then poured into stainless steel and sealed.

They are then stored underground, where the waste products are trapped for thousands of years without leaking radioactivity into the environment.

Other technologies include ion exchange, where medium -level wastes are neutralized by concentrating the radioactivity into much smaller volumes.

This makes them easier to contain, but isn't recommended with volatile high -level wastes.

But when the time range for nuclear waste to become deactivated can reach into the millennia or longer, with some rare isotopes having a half -life of over a million years,

scientists are concerned that these storage methods can come back to haunt us.

That's why we've eliminated many of the more short -sighted methods of nuclear waste disposal, like ocean disposal.

Up until the 1990s many countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, would dump drums of contained nuclear waste into the ocean, especially in the coastal regions of Somalia.

Somalia hasn't had a functioning government since the 1990s, and the pirates weren't going to mess with a large ship bearing a country's flag

when they could go after smaller merchant ships, so countries thought anything goes out there there.

The Arctic Ocean was also a popular choice for the Soviets, as they controlled a huge coast in the north.

Overall, 137 ,000 tons were dumped in the water by European countries in 34 years, and it took its toll on the oceans.

Tests of areas where dumping was common found elevated levels of radioactivity, and in 1993 a treaty was passed banning ocean disposal of nuclear waste.

The most common current method for nuclear waste disposal is above -ground disposal, where Their waste is sealed up in a steel cylinder with an inert gas

that won't react with it and then sealed in radiation -shielding concrete.

The radiation -proof drums are then sealed in a storage facility near the nuclear power plant.

This is how big plants handle their waste in -house, and it's popular for a few reasons.

First, it's handled internally and the plant doesn't have to get approval

and fight their way through government red tape to find a dumping facility.

Second, it's inexpensive and doesn't require construction or expensive materials.

Finally, the waste remains on site for reprocessing, which remains the best solution for solving the nuclear waste question.

But the secret weapon for eliminating nuclear wastes is chemists and physicists,

as these scientists have developed ways to chemically separate fission products and unused uranium from used nuclear fuel.

This started by extracting plutonium, with its long half -life, from nuclear fuel to be used in the construction of nuclear weapons.

But as the focus shifted from bombs to energy plants, scientists developed ways to create a new type of nuclear fuel from the remnants of the old.

Mox nuclear fuel, or mixed oxide fuel, is created in high -level facilities from nuclear waste coming from plants around the country,

and has become a top way of disposing of nuclear waste in Europe.

In America, the government's focusing on research, and commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing isn't widespread yet.

So what will nuclear waste disposal look like in the future?

One of the biggest possibilities is space disposal, as this will get the radioactivity as far away from people as possible.

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The problem, besides the possibility of poisoning some aliens that will come looking for revenge, is that technology isn't there yet.

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While technology like mass drivers and space elevators is in development, the carrying capacity of our current space shuttles is limited

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and would only be able to carry a small amount of nuclear waste.

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The money that goes into every space shuttle launch is high, and the program is far from foolproof.

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The loss of the Challenger and Columbia shuttles proved that a catastrophic accident is possible,

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and a space shuttle disaster carrying a nuclear payload could contaminate a large area.

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But could we transform nuclear waste into less harmful waste with a shorter half -life?

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That was the dream of scientists behind the Integral Fast Reactor, an experimental reactor that would use a nuclear fuel cycle that reprocessed fuel through electro -refining.

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It would extract almost all the energy contained in uranium, medium, cutting fuel requirements by two orders of magnitude.

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Unfortunately the design had problems with leaking cooling fluid, and the project was cancelled by the US government in 1986.

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But research is ongoing, and new fission reactors

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that have much more processing power than the traditional light water reactors are under development now.

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The earth itself might be our best ally for disposing of nuclear waste, as man -made structures underground are the top proposal for future storage facilities.

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By digging out large, stable bunkers in sparsely populated areas of a country,

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nations could keep their nuclear waste in a centralized location and reduce the risk of leaks happening in multiple locations.

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Deep borehole disposal is an alternative that creates narrower

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but much deeper holes capable of storing the waste up to three miles under the earth, where any leaks would be far away from humans.

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The big holdup?

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Besides developing the technology for safe deep earth drilling, getting approval from governments is a holdup.

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Many countries have rejected proposals out of fears that the disposal won't be safe, or that it could destabilize the ground.

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The consequences of a nuclear accident are massive and long -term, as the residents of Pripyat, Ukraine know all too well.

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In the heart of the Chernobyl nuclear plant is the elephant's foot, a mass of solid nuclear waste caused by the 1986 meltdown.

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Dense and hard to damage, it was so radioactive when released that it would kill anyone who was in the same room with it.

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Today, over 30 years later, it's still highly radioactive and poses major health risks to anyone who's exposed.

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So however we neutralize our nuclear waste, let's make sure it stays there.

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Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	are dotted · be disposed · was injured
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have been exposed · has finished · we've eliminated
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	tailings, which are · anyone who was

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