Nuclear Physicist DEBUNKS - THE TRUTH About Radioactive Nuclear Waste
Nuclear Physicist DEBUNKS - THE TRUTH About Radioactive Nuclear Waste
Nuclear Physicist DEBUNKS - THE TRUTH About Radioactive Nuclear Waste
There are many Radioactive Nuclear Waste out there that have been misleading the general public about nuclear energy and radioactive Nuclear Waste for decades.
In this video, I debunk Radioactive Nuclear Waste misinformation that has stigmatised the nuclear industry. I go step by step explaining and debunking THE TRUTH About Radioactive Nuclear Waste.
Hope you find the video about Nuclear Physicist DEBUNKS - THE TRUTH About Radioactive Nuclear Waste helpful Don’t forget to like and subscribe and share with friends and family members.
For exclusive content, as well as supporting the channel join my
Support page - https://ko-fi.com/elinacharatsidou
Content
0.18 -> hey there it's Elina your friendly nuclear
physicist recently I'm made a poll asking
5.52 -> you guys what is the plan that your country has
regarding the nuclear waste disposal and the
11.52 -> majority of you they don't really know so today
we're going to be diving into the mystery that
17.16 -> is nuclear waste and we're going to be debunking
any misinformation that might be out there I'm
22.44 -> gonna be breaking this video down into three
categories which represent the different kinds
27.12 -> of ways that are producing a nuclear power
plant and we're going to discuss each one
31.02 -> separately see how it is produced and how it is
stored firstly starting with a low level waist
36.66 -> and this amounts to 90 percent of the volume of
the waste that comes out of the nuclear industry
42.96 -> yet it only amounts to one percent of the total
radioactivity this waste is typically clothing
50.46 -> of the workers that work with nuclear power plant
are different kind of tools or gloves or one-time
56.94 -> use items that can be used in a nuclear power
plant and usually are not contaminated or might
63.3 -> have some very small amounts of contamination on
them from radioactivity that is very short-lived
69.6 -> meaning that it's going to Decay it's going to be
a non-radioactive very soon maybe in a couple of
76.32 -> minutes or a day or two therefore this waste is
no different than the waste that is produced for
81.9 -> example from coal-fired power plants or basically
any other industry out there that uses everyday
88.08 -> one-time use items therefore this waste is stored
in normal procedure like as we said any other
95.76 -> waste that comes out the industry would be stored
and in order to minimize its volume sometimes this
101.22 -> waste is also burned and therefore we don't have
as much of it being stored in landfills and such
108.48 -> getting higher in the radioactivity scale the
next waste is called intermediate level waste
114.12 -> this waste is usually contaminated metals or
materials that come straight from the reactor
120.24 -> core or for example materials from a reactor
during its decommissioning phase which means
126.3 -> when it's being shut down and different materials
are being dismantled and thrown away and there
131.58 -> might be a radioactive so this type of materials
are in the category of intermediate level waste
137.58 -> meaning that their radioactivity is higher than
the low level waist however not too high that they
144.66 -> need some special procedure in order to be stored
and therefore they are stored and contained for
151.32 -> a short period of time inside the power plant and
when the radioactivity decays to a very low amount
158.28 -> they can be stored in a similar way like the low
activity waste it is interesting to point out here
166.5 -> that seven percent of the total volume of the
radioactive waste comes from intermediate level
172.5 -> waste which amounts for four percent of the total
radioactivity and now it's time to address the
179.1 -> elephant in the room the high level radioactive
waste this waste is the uranium is straight on
186.66 -> the fuel that comes out of the Reactor Core that
is highly radioactive it is literally hot because
193.68 -> it produces Decay heat and it can last in terms of
radioactivity for thousands and thousands of years
200.94 -> therefore its disposal needs a specific kind of
procedure that we're going to describe further on
208.26 -> it is important here to mention that the high
level of radioactive waste is only three percent
216 -> of the total volume of the waste that the nuclear
industry is producing however amounts for the 95
222.48 -> percent of the total radioactivity that comes out
of the nuclear industry so let's dive into how do
228.96 -> we treat this waste how do we manage it so as we
said the radioactive nuclear waste that is of high
236.16 -> level it is the uranium in the fuel that comes out
of the reactor the fuel itself as we explained in
241.56 -> previous videos is in a sort of fuel assembly it's
in a long kind of assembly that the roads are put
250.14 -> positioned inside so the whole assembly when it's
taken out of the reactor it is being stored in a
255.66 -> temporary storage facility this is usually a big
pool like you can see in the picture here where
261.6 -> the store the waste is stored for a couple
of years one year or maybe two three years
266.4 -> in order for it to be literally not too hard to
handle because of the Decay heat as we said that
274.14 -> is produced inside the fuel and also for the high
levels of radioactivity to drop a little bit down
280.44 -> in order for it to be manageable to be handled in
any way this is called an interim storage facility
287.34 -> once the fuel has spent a couple of years in the
interim storage facility now it's time to prepare
293.28 -> it for the permanent disposal facility here we
are going to describe the most widely accepted and
301.44 -> implemented method of depositioning permanently
they spent nuclear fuel around the world and
308.7 -> this is the geological permanent repository so the
geological repository is basically a fancy word of
316.44 -> saying that it is a bunch of holes underground
very low in the ground around 500 meters below
324.54 -> ground level in which the spent nuclear fuel
is going to be deposited now in order to choose
331.08 -> where we are going to deposit the fuel and how
we're going to do that there are procedures in
336 -> place in order to do that I'm going to explain
to you a particular example that is being used
341.7 -> in countries such as Sweden and Finland however
other countries that have accepted the idea of
347.28 -> far geological repository are using similar
methods so firstly one has to examine the
354 -> geology of the country that the nuclear waste
is going to be stored in and take samples of
359.52 -> the rocks and how the formation of the Rocks
underground is and how stable they are in case
366.6 -> of for example seismic activity or movements of
the earth over the years because don't forget
371.76 -> that this repository has to last for thousands
of years once the location is found in which the
378.54 -> Rock and geological structure is suitable to store
nuclear waste now it's time to compact the waste
385.14 -> to seal it in a way in order to deposit it inside
the rock there is several steps several barriers
392.22 -> to protect the radioactivity to be spread
out in the Rock and out in the environment
397.8 -> and those steps are the following when we take
the nuclear fuel assembly out of the interim
405.6 -> storage facility the big pool that we explained
before we insert it inside a big Iron cast sort
413.16 -> of canister there is a picture here that I took
in a facility that I was visiting last month
419.7 -> and this kind of shape of cast iron structure with
the nuclear fuel inside is the first barrier in
429.36 -> protecting the radioactive particles to spread
out and all of this kind of assembly is going
436.14 -> to be deposited into a copper canister a copper
canister is basically a cylinder of around five
443.46 -> meters tall and five centimeters thick in which
the iron cast assembly together with the fuel
451.26 -> assembly is put inside and it's basically sealed
so now this five meter tall thick copper canister
460.74 -> is going to be placed inside the holes that
are drilled around 500 meters underground and
468 -> is going to be filled around it with something
that is called bentonite clay now you might ask
474.84 -> why do we need the bentonite clay in that case
since we already have the fuel assembly we have
480.18 -> the iron cast structure around it the copper
canister around it to protect it and the Bedrock
487.2 -> however the copper canister and the bed dog
the rock formation around the canister are
493.74 -> both very hard materials meaning in case of for
example shaking due to seismic seismic activity
499.38 -> or for example in case of some sort of rupture
it is easier to fracture the canister because
507.12 -> of the hard rock around it and therefore we need
something softer and sort of buffer if you think
513.72 -> about it that accommodates this movement in order
for the copper canister to not crack in any way so
520.08 -> the bentonite clay material is used and filled
around the copper canister and in between the
526.44 -> canister and The Rock and it has the ability to
absorb the underground water and any other other
532.56 -> kind of materials that could potentially penetrate
the canister or cause any kind of corrosion
538.08 -> problems the bentonite clay is pretty much the
material that is used in cat litter so if you have
545.94 -> a cut pet a you are pretty much using the litter
that is kind of a box of sand like material and
553.08 -> when you cut peas there then the material is kind
of solidifying and getting together but it still
559.02 -> remains kind of soft and uh you can basically
like it's like Plastering kind of texture
566.04 -> so this is exactly what the bentonite clay does it
creates this soft Plastering like texture around
572.22 -> the canister in between the Rock in order to
give this extra barrier plus it also has the
578.76 -> ability to contain some of the radioactive
waste in case of a rupture of a canister
585.18 -> so to put it all into perspective we are starting
from the nuclear fuel assembly put inside in
592.08 -> a cast iron assembly inside a copper canister
structure which goes underground with Bentley
600.78 -> clay around it and the biggest uh kind of barrier
is the rock itself of the permanent Repository
610.44 -> so therefore there are several barriers that
would protect in case of a radiation leak and
616.5 -> this idea of depositing the fuel has been
examined tested and researched for decades
622.5 -> now and it is with very big confidence believed
that can basically keep the radioactive waste
630.84 -> for hundreds of thousands years underground with
no problem for the generations to come and know
637.74 -> uh bad outcome for the environment itself and
that's how radioactive nuclear fuel is managed and
645.06 -> stored don't forget to like this video subscribe
if you haven't subscribed already leave a comment
650.1 -> down below let me know what your country is doing
in terms of storing their nuclear fuel I will
655.68 -> put up here two other videos that I've debunked
nuclear power plant myths that I think you might
660.66 -> find interesting it's been Elina your friendly
nuclear physicist and until next time see you soon
667.2 -> I don't know check out this video in this video
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsCY5YllJlw