Radioactive waste refers to any material that has been contaminated by radioactive material or that is intrinsically radioactive in its very nature. It is mainly a by-product of processes in nuclear power plants where it is used to produce energy or in agriculture, medicine, manufacturing among other areas. Due to the extensive application and the severe effects the waste could have on human beings, the disposal of nuclear waste (radioactive) is a very crucial process.
The process of disposing radioactive waste depends on the amount of radioactive dose they contain which is mostly after the decay has gone to levels lower than 40-50 years. The waste can either be released into the atmosphere such as krypton -85 and xenon-133 which are chemically inert or into the sea for technetium-99 which is low level liquid waste. This is mainly because their radioactive dose is below the minimum necessary to impact the environment or people negatively. The commonly used method however is referred to as deep geological disposal where the radioactive waste is buried into the ground under decommissioned mines. This process takes care of the Intermediate Level Waste (ILW) and the High Level Waste (HLW) and sometimes fuel that has served its purpose in the nuclear plants.
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Even though the waste has little effect on the environment, it is important that new methods are devised to manage the waste. The most logical, cost effective and efficient method is replacing plastic in the facilities with re-washable material especially on the floors and equipment. The other alternative that is equally effective is recycling the material for example, oil that has become ‘useless’ in the nuclear plants may be used in other industries to generate heat in incinerators used to dispose other waste materials which makes it a double victory.
Solar energy has in some circles been hailed as the most reliable alternative to nuclear energy its proponents arguing that it is the only blessing we can count from the rising heat levels due to global warming. It is also proposed since there is virtually no waste that solar energy has as opposed to depending on energy from coal plants. Countries like Germany for instance power their industrial economy using solar energy to a tune of 6.2% according to estimates. However, nuclear still beats solar because of its efficiency and its only downside which is the radioactive waste has been seen to be only 4.9 million tons in the UK which is the world’s oldest nuclear country calculated up to 2125 which is way below the annual waste of 4.3 million tons of hazardous waste. Of the 4.9 million, only 0.03 percent is High Level Waste (HLW). Also, with the continued developments in waste management technologies, it is only expected that soon enough there will be no argument against nuclear energy.
In conclusion, the enormous potential of solar energy cannot be ignored or thrown out of the door but the evidence and numbers for nuclear energy make it the best bet especially with continued innovations aimed at making it more viable.
References
Li, T. (2011). Very Low Level Radioactive Solid Waste Management in CHINA. Journal Of The Korean Radioactive Waste Society, 9(2), 87-92. http://dx.doi.org/10.7733/jkrws.2011.9.2.87
Longman, N. (2018). Top 10 solar-producing countries. Energydigital.com. Retrieved 21 March 2018, from http://www.energydigital.com/renewable-energy/top-10-solar-producing-countries
Zeb, R., Salar, L., Awan, U., Zaman, K., & Shahbaz, M. (2014). Causal links between renewable energy, environmental degradation and economic growth in selected SAARC countries: Progress towards green economy. Renewable Energy, 71, 123-132. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2014.05.012
