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Elucidating Sustainable Waste Management Approaches along with Waste-to-Energy Pathways
Published in Ram K. Gupta, Tuan Anh Nguyen, Energy from Waste, 2022
Asmita Mishra, Hammad Siddiqi, B.C. Meikap
Nuclear waste is a distinguished type of waste that can be either solid, liquid, or gas containing radioactive materials and emitting harmful ionizing radiation together with attended heat. These wastes are broadly classified into three categories: (i) high-level nuclear waste, (ii) transuranic waste, and (iii) low-level nuclear waste. High-level nuclear waste is highly radioactive with a very long life; for example, Pu (239) possesses a half-life of 24,000 years. The transuranic waste is generated either from the processing of spent nuclear fuel or during nuclear weapon fabrication, for example Pu (94), Am (95), Cm (96), and Np (93). The low-level liquid waste possesses a lower radiation level and shorter half-life [18].
Transuranic Waste
Published in James H. Saling, Audeen W. Fentiman, Radioactive Waste Management, 2018
James H. Saling, Audeen W. Fentiman
Most transuranic waste is solid waste consisting of protective clothing, equipment, or cleaning cloths used in areas where spent fuel is reprocessed. Some sludges remaining after Pu or other transuranic elements are removed during reprocessing are also TRU wastes. Approximately half of TRU waste generated to date is thought to include hazardous wastes governed by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).17 As a result, a TRU repository must also be designed to confine some hazardous wastes.
Misplaced Priorities
Published in Kenneth L. Mossman, Radiation Risks in Perspective, 2006
The U.S. Department of Energy is responsible for the cleanup of defense-related transuranic waste across the nuclear weapons complex.35 The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) located near Carlsbad, New Mexico, is the designated repository for this waste. Before shipment to WIPP, waste must be characterized to comply with regulations, including meeting total activity limits and assuring that unallowable items are not included in waste drums. Waste characterization is one of the most costly and time-consuming parts of the national transuranic waste-management program. According to DOE the cost of characterization and certification activities to prepare waste to be shipped to WIPP is estimated to be $3.1 billion. Characterization of a single 55-gallon drum of waste costs about $4,000. A 2004 analysis of the characterization process by the NRC indicates that characterization procedures, including head space gas sampling and visual inspection of drum contents are redundant, very costly, and provide little, if any, impact on repository performance.36
Spatiotemporal Analyses of News Media Coverage on “Nuclear Waste”: A Natural Language Processing Approach
Published in Nuclear Technology, 2023
Matthew D. Sweitzer, Thushara Gunda
Past siting attempts in the United States for consolidated storage facilities and a geologic repository for commercial spent nuclear fuel have demonstrated that the siting of consolidated commercial spent nuclear fuel management storage facilities is a question not only of technical suitability but also of the associated public acceptance.[6] The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is responsible for the disposal of commercial spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States pursuant to the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended. Congress has provided appropriations and directed the DOE to establish a program or more federal consolidated interim storage facilities for commercial spent nuclear fuel using a consent-based siting process.[7] Consent-based siting necessitates prioritizing the participation and needs of people and communities and centers equity and justice considerations.[8] The study that is the subject of this report considered “nuclear waste” broadlyaNews media articles often use blanket terms such as “nuclear waste” or “waste” to refer to material such as spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, and/or low-level radioactive waste, which may or may not match U.S. statutory definitions for different nuclear and radioactive materials and/or wastes. The authors opted to use “nuclear waste” and “waste” interchangeably here to refer to these materials in a similar manner to the news articles under study. in order to situate and understand public narratives in news media coverage of nuclear waste.