What Waste Is Created By Nuclear Energy?

The disposal of radioactive waste from nuclear power plants is a political hot potato.

Nuclear waste is usually classified as either 'low level' or 'high level'.

Low level nuclear waste usually includes materials used to handle the highly radioactive parts of nuclear reactors. This would include such tings as water pipes and radiation suits.

This low level nuclear waste is relatively easy to dispose of. Storing the waste for around 10-50 years will make most of the radioactive isotopes decay. Then you can be dispose of it as normal waste.

But high level radioactive waste is something quite different. This is the material from the core of the nuclear reactor. This waste includes uranium, plutonium, and other highly radioactive elements.

The isotopes in high level waste discharge huge amounts of radiation and do so for a very long time. Some it is estimated can last longer than 100,000 years. This creates long time periods before the waste settles to safe levels of radioactivity. This is not good!

Some people believe nuclear energy can be conceived as potentially renewable because it breeds plutonium or fuses light atoms. But solar energy is forever replenished to sustain our energy needs. It is truly renewable. And no fuel equals no toxic waste.

Solar energy can be harnessed to produce heat or electricity.

When we are debating which renewable energy is the one to take us forward in these uncertain times, the outcome should not be judged simply in monetary terms such as the number of years to pay back the invested capital.

Many other things should be taken into account such as;

I will let President Gorbachev, the former leader of the USSR, on the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster have the last word....

"Nuclear power is neither the answer to modern energy problems nor a panacea for climate change challenges."

"You don’t actually solve problems by finding solutions that create more problems down the track. It doesn’t add up economically, environmentally or socially."

"Of all the energy options, nuclear is the most capital intensive to establish, decommissioning is prohibitively expensive and the financial burden continues long after the plant is closed."

"In the U.S., for example, direct subsidies to nuclear energy amounted to $115 billion between 1947 and 1999 with a further $145 billion in indirect subsidies. In contrast, subsidies to wind and solar combined during the same period totaled only $5.5 billion."

Useful resources

Click on solar photovoltaic energy for information on solar for electricity.

Click on diy solar heating for information on solar water heating.

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