Types of Radioactive Emissions

7/31/2019 Types of Radioactive Emissions

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Types of Radioactive Emissions

There are many types of radiation and radioactive emissions. The information we are

providing discusses only the four most common types: alpha particles, beta particles, gamma

rays, and x rays.

Alpha Particles

Alpha particles are a type of radiation that do not travel very far, do not pass through

anything very thick, and can generally be absorbed or stopped by an inch or less (1-2centimeters) of air or a thin piece of tissue. Because they lose all of their energy in a small

volume, alpha particles can be very damaging when inside the human body. Alpha particles

are effective only for a short distance because they use up their energy when they hit other

atoms. Outside the body, alpha particles wont even go through the outer layer of skin.

Inside the body, they can kill nearby cells. Examples of radioactive materials that give off

alpha particles are polonium-210, radon-222, radium-226, and americium-241.

Beta Particles

Beta particles are electrons emitted from an atom. In air, beta particles can travel a few

hundred times farther than alpha particlesup to six feet (two meters) or more for the beta

particles with higher energies. For the common low-energy beta emitters used in

laboratories, light clothing or a few centimeters of air can stop the beta radiation. For higher

energy beta emitters, a centimeter or two of plastic will stop most of the particles. Beta

particles are more like alpha particles when it comes to causing biological damagemore

damaging if inside the body than if outside the body. Examples of radioactive materials that

give off beta particles are hydrogen-3 (tritium), carbon-14, phosphorus-32, and sulfur-35.
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Gamma Rays and X Rays

Gamma and x rays (also called photons) are waves of energy that travel at the speed of light.

These waves can have considerable range in air and have greater penetrating power (can

travel farther) than either alpha or beta particles. X rays andgamma rays differ from one

another because they come from different locations in an atom. Gamma rays come from the

nucleus of an atom while x rays come from the electron shells. Even though x rays are

emitted by some radioactive materials, they are more commonly generated by machines

used in medicine and industry.

Gamma and x rays are both generally blocked by various thicknesses of lead or other heavy

materials. Examples of common radionuclides that emit gamma rays are technetium-99m

(pronounced tech-neesh-e-um, the most commonly used radioactive material in nuclear

medicine), iodine-125, iodine-131, cobalt-57, and cesium-137.

Detecting & Measuring Radiation

Radiation has no odor or property that allows it to be seen. However, there are many types

of devices used to measure it. Some devices are qualitativethey simply tell you that

radiation is present but dont tell you the amount of radiation present or the amount

ofexposure you are receiving. Some are quantitativethey might indicate the rate of

radiation exposure, the quantity, or both. Although there are many types of devices, the

basic requirement for measurement is that the radiation must be able to interact with the

detector. If the radiation cannot get in to the detection chamber because it doesnt have

enough energy or the chamber wall is too thick, then it wont get measured. This section will

discuss only those devices commonly used to measure beta- and gamma-emitting

radionuclides.

Local emergency responders will have some of these devices when they respond to incidents

that might involve radioactive material. Your local department of health will use one or moreof these devices to analyze samples taken from around nuclear power plants to determine if

any radioactive materials are being released.
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Radiation Exposure

Will small radiation doses hurt me? No. Every day we live with radioactive materials aroundand inside our bodies as well as what is normally in our environment. However, a

large dose of certain types of radiation could be harmful. That is the same answer I would

give you if you asked if taking aspirin was harmful . . . yes, if you take enough of them. To put

it briefly, in every medicine there is a little poison. If we use radiation safely, there are

benefits. If we use radiation carelessly and high doses result, there are consequences.

Ionizing radiation can change the structure of the cells, sometimes creating potentially

harmful effects that are more likely to cause changes in tissue. These changes can interfere

with cellular processes so cells might not be able to divide or they might divide too much.

Although radiation has the potential to damage structures inside a cell, the structure of most

concern is DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid). DNA contains the genetic information that allows

each cell to function, grow, and reproduce. If DNA is damaged from radiation or some other

agent (like toxic particles in smog), it has the capability to repair minor damage. However, if

the damage cant be repaired or is not repaired correctly, harmful effects may occur. These

effects may or may not affect how we function on a day-to-day basis. If the cells are not very

important to the operation of our body, it may not matter that they have been damaged or

killed. However, if the cells are in critical organs (ones that keep us alive) and a large numberof the cells have been damaged or killed, that organ might not be able to function normally.
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If a cell is damaged by radiation or another toxin:

The cell might have some minor damage that is repaired. The cell might have some minor damage that remains inactive until another agent

interacts with the cell again.

The cell (if it is a reproductive cell like a sperm or egg cell) might have damage to thegenetic code that doesnt show up until future generations (your children, their

children, etc.).

The cell might have damage that causes it to become cancerous. The cell may simply stop functioning. The cell may die.

Some effects may occur immediately (days or months) while others might take tens of years

or even get passed to the next generation. Effects of interest for the person being exposed

to radiation are called somatic effects and effects of interest that affect our children are

called genetic effects. It is important to note here that, in addition to the possibleinteractions of radiation with a cell, there are other processes occurring in the body, causing

thousands of cell-killing events every day. Some of these are due to normal metabolism and

some are due to our contact with other toxins in our environment.

We know a lot about the interaction of radiation and the effects it can have on the human

body. The effects depend on many factors, including the type of radiation and how we are

exposed to that radiation and our own genetic makeup. We might be exposed from the

outside (when we have an x ray) or from the inside (when we have radioactive materials

inside of us), or from both. We might be exposed many times over a long period or we mightbe exposed once in a very short period. And we might be only partially exposed (like part of

our leg during a knee x ray) or wholly exposed (like our whole body from exposure to daily

natural background radiation). Also, some of us are more susceptible to radiation injury than

otherswe sunburn more easily, for example.
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Before we begin, we need to briefly define what we mean when we say radiation exposure

and radiation dose. When we say someone has been exposed to radiation, it simply meansthat the person interacted somehow with radiationits like saying we were exposed to the

sun, which means our body or a part of our body was out in the sun. Neither of those tells us

how much of a dose we receivedwe were exposed to x rays or we were exposed to the

sun, neither is an indication ofdose. In the case of radiation, if we are exposed and some of

the energy from the radiation stays in our body, that is radiation dose. Radiation dose is the

energy deposited in our cells and tissues from exposure to radiation.

This article is about the power source. For nation states that are nuclear powers, see List of states

with nuclear weapons.

The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, a boiling water reactor. The reactors are located inside the

rectangular containment buildings towards the front of the cooling towers.

Three nuclear powered American warships, (top to bottom) nuclear

cruisersUSS Bainbridgeand USS Long BeachwithUSS Enterprisethe first nuclear powered

aircraft carrier in 1964. Crew members are spelling out Einstein's mass-energy

equivalence formula E = mc2 on the flight deck.
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Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and

electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 1314% of theworld's electricity,

[1]with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of

nuclear generated electricity.[2]

In 2007, the IAEA reported there were 439 nuclear power

reactors in operation in the world,[3]operating in 31 countries.[4]Also, more than 150 naval

vessels usingnuclear propulsion have been built.

There is an ongoing debate about the use of nuclear energy.[5][6][7]

Proponents, such as

the World Nuclear Association and IAEA, contend that nuclear power is a sustainable

energy source that reduces carbon emissions.[8]

Opponents, such as Greenpeace

International and NIRS, believe that nuclear power poses many threats to people and theenvironment.[9][10][11]

Nuclear power plant accidents include the Chernobyl disaster (1986), Fukushima Daiichi

nuclear disaster (2011), and the Three Mile Island accident(1979).[12]There have also been

some nuclear-powered submarine mishaps.[13][14][12]However, the safety record of nuclear

power is good when compared with many other energy technologies.[15]

Research into safety

improvements is continuing[16]

and nuclear fusion may be used in the future.

China has 25 nuclear power reactors under construction, with plans to build many

more,[17]while in the US the licenses of almost half its reactors have been extended to60 years,

[18]and plans to build another dozen are under serious consideration.

[19]However,

Japan's 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster prompted a rethink ofnuclear energy

policy in many countries.[20]

Germany decided to close all its reactors by 2022, and Italy has

banned nuclear power.[20]

Following Fukushima, the International Energy Agency halved its

estimate of additional nuclear generating capacity to be built by 2035.[21]

As of 2005, nuclear power provided 6.3% of the world's energy and 15% of the world's

electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for 56.5% of nuclear

generated electricity.[2]

In 2007, the IAEA reported there were 439 nuclear power reactors inoperation in the world,[3]operating in 31 countries.[4]As of December 2009, the world had

436 reactors.[22]

Since commercial nuclear energy began in the mid 1950s, 2008 was the first

year that no new nuclear power plant was connected to the grid, although two were

connected in 2009.[22][23]

Annual generation of nuclear power has been on a slight downward trend since 2007,

decreasing 1.8% in 2009 to 2558 TWh with nuclear power meeting 1314% of the world's

electricity demand.[1]One factor in the nuclear power percentage decrease since 2007 has

been the prolonged shutdown of large reactors at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power

Plant in Japan following the Niigata-Chuetsu-Oki earthquake.[1]
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Japanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_Francehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_in_the_United_Stateshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power#cite_note-WNAMay-0http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_power_planthttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission


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The United States produces the most nuclear energy, with nuclear power providing

19%[24]of the electricity it consumes, while France produces the highest percentage of itselectrical energy from nuclear reactors80% as of 2006.

[25]In the European Union as a

whole, nuclear energy provides 30% of the electricity.[26]

Nuclear energy policy differs among

European Union countries, and some, such as Austria, Estonia, Ireland and Italy, have no

active nuclear power stations. In comparison, France has a large number of these plants,

with 16 multi-unit stations in current use.

In the US, while the coal and gas electricity industry is projected to be worth $85 billion by

2013, nuclear power generators are forecast to be worth $18 billion.[27]

Many military and some civilian (such as some icebreaker) ships use nuclear marine

propulsion, a form ofnuclear propulsion.[28]

A few space vehicles have been launched using

full-fledged nuclear reactors: the Soviet RORSAT series and the American SNAP-10A.

International research is continuing into safety improvements such as passively

safe plants,[16]

the use ofnuclear fusion, and additional uses of process heat such

as hydrogen production (in support of a hydrogen economy), for desalinating sea water, and

for use in district heating systems.

Nuclear fusion

Main articles: Nuclear fusion andFusion power

Nuclear fusion reactions have the potential to be safer and generate less radioactive waste

than fission.[29][30]

These reactions appear potentially viable, though technically quite difficult

and have yet to be created on a scale that could be used in a functional power plant. Fusion

power has been under intense theoretical and experimental investigation since the 1950s.

Use in space

Main article: Nuclear power in space

Both fission and fusion appear promising for space propulsion applications, generating

higher mission velocities with less reaction mass. This is due to the much higher energy

density of nuclear reactions: some 7 orders of magnitude (10,000,000 times) more energetic

than the chemical reactions which power the current generation of rockets.
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Radioactive decay has been used on a relatively small scale (few kW), mostly to power space

missions and experiments by using radioisotope thermoelectric generators such as thosedeveloped at Idaho National Laboratory.

History

Origins

The pursuit of nuclear energy for electricity generation began soon after the discovery in the

early 20th century that radioactive elements, such asradium, released immense amounts ofenergy, according to the principle ofmassenergy equivalence. However, means of

harnessing such energy was impractical, because intensely radioactive elements were, by

their very nature, short-lived (high energy release is correlated with short half-lives).

However, the dream of harnessing "atomic energy" was quite strong, even it was dismissed

by such fathers ofnuclear physics like Ernest Rutherford as "moonshine." This situation,

however, changed in the late 1930s, with the discovery ofnuclear fission.

In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron, which was immediately recognized as a

potential tool for nuclear experimentation because of its lack of an electric charge.

Experimentation with bombardment of materials with neutrons led Frdric and Irne Joliot-

Curie to discover induced radioactivity in 1934, which allowed the creation of radium-like

elements at much less the price of natural radium. Further work by Enrico Fermi in the 1930s

focused on using slow neutrons to increase the effectiveness of induced radioactivity.

Experiments bombarding uranium with neutrons led Fermi to believe he had created a new,

transuranic element, which he dubbed hesperium.

Constructing the core ofB-Reactor atHanford Site during the Manhattan Project.
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But in 1938, German chemists Otto Hahn[31]and Fritz Strassmann, along with Austrian

physicist Lise Meitner[32]

and Meitner's nephew, Otto Robert Frisch,[33]

conductedexperiments with the products of neutron-bombarded uranium, as a means of further

investigating Fermi's claims. They determined that the relatively tiny neutron split the

nucleus of the massive uranium atoms into two roughly equal pieces, contradicting Fermi.

This was an extremely surprising result: all other forms ofnuclear decay involved only small

changes to the mass of the nucleus, whereas this processdubbed "fission" as areference to

biologyinvolved a complete rupture of the nucleus. Numerous scientists, including Le

Szilrd, who was one of the first, recognized that if fission reactions released additional

neutrons, a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction could result. Once this was experimentally

confirmed and announced by Frdric Joliot-Curie in 1939, scientists in many countries(including the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and the Soviet Union)

petitioned their governments for support of nuclear fission research, just on the cusp of

World War II.

In the United States, where Fermi and Szilrd had both emigrated, this led to the creation of

the first man-made reactor, known as Chicago Pile-1, which achieved criticality on December

2, 1942. This work became part of the Manhattan Project, which made enriched

uranium and built large reactors to breed plutonium for use in the first nuclear weapons,

which were used on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The first light bulbs ever lit by electricity generated by nuclear power at EBR-1 atArgonne National

Laboratory-West.
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10/19


11/19

On June 27, 1954, the USSR's Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant became the world's first nuclear

power plant to generate electricity for a power grid, and produced around 5 megawatts ofelectric power.

[37][38]

Later in 1954, Lewis Strauss, then chairman of the United States Atomic Energy

Commission (U.S. AEC, forerunner of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and

the United States Department of Energy) spoke of electricity in the future being "too cheap

to meter".[39]

Strauss was very likely referring to hydrogen fusion[40]

which was secretly

being developed as part ofProject Sherwood at the timebut Strauss's statement was

interpreted as a promise of very cheap energy from nuclear fission. The U.S. AEC itself had

issued far more conservative testimony regarding nuclear fission to the U.S. Congress onlymonths before, projecting that "costs can be brought down... [to]... about the same as the

cost of electricity from conventional sources..."[41]Significant disappointment would

develop later on, when the new nuclear plants did not provide energy "too cheap to meter."

In 1955 the United Nations' "First Geneva Conference", then the world's largest gathering of

scientists and engineers, met to explore the technology. In 1957 EURATOM was launched

alongside the European Economic Community (the latter is now the European Union). The

same year also saw the launch of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Shippingport Atomic Power Station inShippingport, Pennsylvania was the first commercial

reactor in the USA and was opened in 1957.

The world's first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall at Windscale, England, was

opened in 1956 with an initial capacity of 50 MW (later 200 MW).[36][42]

The first commercial

nuclear generator to become operational in the United States was the Shippingport

Reactor (Pennsylvania, December 1957).
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12/19

One of the first organizations to develop nuclear power was the U.S. Navy, for the purpose

of propellingsubmarines and aircraft carriers. The first nuclear-poweredsubmarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571), was put to sea in December 1954.

[43]Two U.S. nuclear

submarines, USS Scorpionand USS Thresher, have been lost at sea. Several serious nuclear

and radiation accidents have involved nuclear submarine mishaps.[12][14]The Soviet

submarine K-19 reactor accident in 1961 resulted in 8 deaths and more than 30 other people

were over-exposed to radiation.[13]

The Soviet submarine K-27 reactor accident in 1968

resulted in 9 fatalities and 83 other injuries.[14]

The U.S. Army also had a nuclear power program, beginning in 1954. The SM-1 Nuclear

Power Plant, at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, was the first power reactor in the U.S. to supplyelectrical energy to a commercial grid (VEPCO), in April 1957, before Shippingport. The SL-

1 was a U.S. Army experimental nuclear power reactor at the National Reactor Testing

Station in eastern Idaho. It underwent a steam explosion and meltdown in January 1961,

which killed its three operators.[44]

Development

Installed nuclear capacity initially rose relatively quickly, rising from less than1 gigawatt (GW) in 1960 to 100 GW in the late 1970s, and 300 GW in the late 1980s. Since

the late 1980s worldwide capacity has risen much more slowly, reaching 366 GW in 2005.

Between around 1970 and 1990, more than 50 GW of capacity was under construction

(peaking at over 150 GW in the late 70s and early 80s) in 2005, around 25 GW of new

capacity was planned. More than two-thirds of all nuclear plants ordered after January 1970

were eventually cancelled.[43]A total of63 nuclear units were canceled in the USA between

1975 and 1980.[45]

During the 1970s and 1980s rising economic costs (related to extended construction timeslargely due to regulatory changes and pressure-group litigation)[46]and falling fossil fuel

prices made nuclear power plants then under construction less attractive. In the 1980s (U.S.)

and 1990s (Europe), flat load growth and electricity liberalization also made the addition of

large new baseload capacity unattractive.

The 1973 oil crisis had a significant effect on countries, such as France and Japan, which had

relied more heavily on oil for electric generation (39%[47][verification needed] and 73% respectively)

to invest in nuclear power.[48]Today, nuclear power supplies about 80% and 30% of the

electricity in those countries, respectively.
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13/19

Some local opposition to nuclear power emerged in the early 1960s,[49]and in the late 1960s

some members of the scientific community began to express their concerns.[50]Theseconcerns related to nuclear accidents, nuclear proliferation, high cost of nuclear power

plants, nuclear terrorism andradioactive waste disposal.[51]

In the early 1970s, there were

large protests about a proposed nuclear power plant in Wyhl, Germany. The project was

cancelled in 1975 and anti-nuclear success at Wyhl inspired opposition to nuclear power in

other parts of Europe and North America.[52][53]

By the mid-1970s anti-nuclear activism had

moved beyond local protests and politics to gain a wider appeal and influence, and nuclear

power became an issue of major public protest.[54]

Although it lacked a single co-ordinating

organization, and did not have uniform goals, the movement's efforts gained a great deal of

attention.[55]In some countries, the nuclear power conflict "reached an intensity

unprecedented in the history of technology controversies".[56]

In France, between 1975 and

1977, some 175,000 people protested against nuclear power in ten demonstrations.[57]In

West Germany, between February 1975 and April 1979, some 280,000 people were involved

in seven demonstrations at nuclear sites. Several site occupations were also attempted. In

the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, some 120,000 people attended a

demonstration against nuclear power in Bonn.[57]In May 1979, an estimated 70,000 people,

including then governor of California Jerry Brown, attended a march and rally against nuclear

power in Washington, D.C.[58]

Anti-nuclear power groups emerged in every country that has

had a nuclear power programme. Some of these anti-nuclear power organisations are

reported to have developed considerable expertise on nuclear power and energy issues.[59]

The abandoned city ofPripyat with Chernobyl plant in the distance.

Health and safety concerns, the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island, and the 1986 Chernobyl

disaster played a part in stopping new plant construction in many countries,[60][61]although

the public policy organization Brookings Institution suggests that new nuclear units have not

been ordered in the U.S. because of soft demand for electricity, and cost overruns on

nuclear plants due to regulatory issues and construction delays.[62]
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Unlike the Three Mile Island accident, the much more serious Chernobyl accident did not

increase regulations affecting Western reactors since the Chernobyl reactors were of theproblematic RBMK design only used in the Soviet Union, for example lacking

"robust" containment buildings.[63]

Many of these reactors are still in use today. However,

changes were made in both the reactors themselves (use of low enriched uranium) and in

the control system (prevention of disabling safety systems) to reduce the possibility of a

duplicate accident.

An international organization to promote safety awareness and professional development

on operators in nuclear facilities was created: WANO; World Association of Nuclear

Operators.

Opposition in Ireland and Poland prevented nuclear programs there, while Austria (1978),

Sweden (1980) and Italy (1987) (influenced by Chernobyl) voted in referendums to oppose

or phase out nuclear power. In July 2009, the Italian Parliament passed a law that canceled

the results of an earlier referendum and allowed the immediate start of the Italian nuclear

program.[64]One Italian minister even called the nuclear phase-out a "terrible mistake".[65]

Nuclear power plant

Unlike fossil fuel power plants, the only substance leaving the cooling towers ofnuclear

power plants is water vapour and thus does not pollute the air or cause global warming.

Main article: Nuclear power plant

Just as many conventional thermal power stations generate electricity by harnessing

the thermal energy released from burning fossil fuels, nuclear power plants convert the

energy released from the nucleus of an atom via nuclear fission that takes place in a nuclear

reactor. The heat is removed from the reactor core by a cooling system that uses the heat to

generate steam, which drives a steam turbine connected to

a generator producing electricity.
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Life cycle

The nuclear fuel cycle begins when uranium is mined, enriched, and manufactured into

nuclear fuel, (1) which is delivered to a nuclear power plant. After usage in the power plant,

the spent fuel is delivered to a reprocessing plant (2) or to a final repository (3) for geological

disposition. In reprocessing 95% of spent fuel can be recycled to be returned to usage in a

power plant (4).

Main article: Nuclear fuel cycle

A nuclear reactor is only part of the life-cycle for nuclear power. The process starts with

mining (seeUranium mining). Uranium mines are underground,open-pit, or in-situ

leach mines. In any case, the uranium ore is extracted, usually converted into a stable and

compact form such as yellowcake, and then transported to a processing facility. Here, the

yellowcake is converted to uranium hexafluoride, which is then enriched using various

techniques. At this point, the enriched uranium, containing more than the natural 0.7% U-

235, is used to make rods of the proper composition and geometry for the particular reactorthat the fuel is destined for. The fuel rods will spend about 3 operational cycles (typically 6

years total now) inside the reactor, generally until about 3% of their uranium has been

fissioned, then they will be moved to a spent fuel pool where the short lived isotopes

generated by fission can decay away. After about 5 years in a spent fuel pool the spent fuel

is radioactively and thermally cool enough to handle, and it can be moved to dry storage

casks or reprocessed.
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Conventional fuel resources

Main articles: Uranium marketandEnergy development - Nuclear energy

Uranium is a fairly common element in the Earth's crust. Uranium is approximately as

common as tin or germanium in Earth's crust, and is about 40 times more common

than silver.[66]

Uranium is a constituent of most rocks, dirt, and of the oceans. The fact that

uranium is so spread out is a problem because mining uranium is only economically feasible

where there is a large concentration. Still, the world's present measured resources of

uranium, economically recoverable at a price of 130 USD/kg, are enough to last for "at least

a century" at current consumption rates.

[67][68]

This represents a higher level of assuredresources than is normal for most minerals. On the basis of analogies with other metallic

minerals, a doubling of price from present levels could be expected to create about a tenfold

increase in measured resources, over time. However, the cost of nuclear power lies for the

most part in the construction of the power station. Therefore the fuel's contribution to the

overall cost of the electricity produced is relatively small, so even a large fuel price escalation

will have relatively little effect on final price. For instance, typically a doubling of the

uranium market price would increase the fuel cost for a light water reactor by 26% and the

electricity cost about 7%, whereas doubling the price of natural gas would typically add 70%

to the price of electricity from that source. At high enough prices, eventually extraction fromsources such as granite and seawater become economically feasible.[69][70]

Current light water reactors make relatively inefficient use of nuclear fuel, fissioning only the

very rare uranium-235 isotope. Nuclear reprocessing can make this waste reusable and more

efficient reactor designs allow better use of the available resources.[71]

Breeding

Main article: Breeder reactor

As opposed to current light water reactors which use uranium-235 (0.7% of all natural

uranium), fast breeder reactors use uranium-238 (99.3% of all natural uranium). It has been

estimated that there is up to five billion years' worth of uranium-238 for use in these power

plants.[72]
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Breeder technology has been used in several reactors, but the high cost of reprocessing fuel

safely requires uranium prices of more than 200 USD/kg before becoming justifiedeconomically.

[73]As of December 2005, the only breeder reactor producing power is BN-600

in Beloyarsk, Russia. The electricity output of BN-600 is 600 MW Russia has planned to

build another unit, BN-800, at Beloyarsk nuclear power plant. Also, Japan's Monju reactor is

planned for restart (having been shut down since 1995), and both China and India intend to

build breeder reactors.

Another alternative would be to use uranium-233 bred from thorium as fission fuel in

the thorium fuel cycle. Thorium is about 3.5 times more common than uranium in the

Earth's crust, and has different geographic characteristics. This would extend the totalpractical fissionable resource base by 450%.[74]Unlike the breeding of U-238 into plutonium,

fast breeder reactors are not necessary it can be performed satisfactorily in more

conventional plants. India has looked into this technology, as it has abundant thorium

reserves but little uranium.

Fusion

Fusion power advocates commonly propose the use ofdeuterium, or tritium,both isotopes ofhydrogen, as fuel and in many current designs also lithium and boron.

Assuming a fusion energy output equal to the current global output and that this does not

increase in the future, then the known current lithium reserves would last 3000 years,

lithium from sea water would last 60 million years, and a more complicated fusion process

using only deuterium from sea water would have fuel for 150 billion years.[75]

Although this

process has yet to be realized, many experts believe fusion to be a promising future energy

source due to the short lived radioactivity of the produced waste, its low carbon emissions,

and its prospective power output.

Solid waste

The most important waste stream from nuclear power plants is spent nuclear fuel. It is

primarily composed of unconverted uranium as well as significant quantities of

transuranic actinides(plutonium andcurium, mostly). In addition, about 3% of it is fission

products from nuclear reactions. The actinides (uranium, plutonium, and curium) are

responsible for the bulk of the long-term radioactivity, whereas the fission products are

responsible for the bulk of the short-term radioactivity.[76]
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High-level radioactive waste

Main article: High-level radioactive waste management

Spent nuclear fuel stored underwater and uncapped at the Hanford site inWashington, USA.

The world's nuclear fleet creates about 10,000 metric tons of high-level spent nuclear fuel

each year.[77]

High-level radioactive waste management concerns management and disposal

of highly radioactive materials created during production of nuclear power. The technical

issues in accomplishing this are daunting, due to the extremely long periods radioactive

wastes remain deadly to living organisms. Of particular concern are two long-lived fission

products, Technetium-99 (half-life 220,000 years) and Iodine-129 (half-life 15.7 million

years),[78]which dominate spent nuclear fuel radioactivity after a few thousand years. The

most troublesome transuranic elements in spent fuel are Neptunium-237 (half-life two

million years) and Plutonium-239 (half-life 24,000 years).[79]

Consequently, high-level

radioactive waste requires sophisticated treatment and management to successfully isolate

it from thebiosphere. This usually necessitates treatment, followed by a long-term

management strategy involving permanent storage, disposal or transformation of the waste

into a non-toxic form.[80]

Governments around the world are considering a range of waste management and disposal

options, usually involving deep-geologic placement, although there has been limited

progress toward implementing long-term waste management solutions.[81]

This is partly

because the timeframes in question when dealing with radioactive waste range from 10,000

to millions of years,[82][83]according to studies based on the effect of estimated radiation

doses.[84]
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Since the fraction of a radioisotope's atoms decaying per unit of time is inversely

proportional to its half-life, the relative radioactivity of a quantity of buriedhuman radioactive waste would diminish over time compared to natural radioisotopes (such

as the decay chains of 120 trillion tons of thorium and 40 trillion tons of uranium which

are at relatively trace concentrations of parts per million each over the crust's 3 * 1019 ton

mass).[85][86][87]For instance, over a timeframe of thousands of years, after the most active

short half-life radioisotopes decayed, burying U.S. nuclear waste would increase the

radioactivity in the top 2000 feet of rock and soil in the United States (10 million km2) by1

part in 10 million over the cumulative amount ofnatural radioisotopes in such a volume,

although the vicinity of the site would have a far higher concentration of artificial

radioisotopes underground than such an average.[88]

Low-level radioactive waste

The Ikata Nuclear Power Plant, apressurized water reactor that cools by secondary coolant

exchange with the ocean

The nuclear industry also

Types of Radioactive Emissions

Documents

Transcript of Types of Radioactive Emissions