Nuclear waste..eeeeeeeeee!!!

This has been a debut of most people around the world for quite some time now. This is one of the main concerns of people who are anti nuclear around the world and even if Malaysia is about to introduce nuclear power plant in the country, this would be the main issue discussed.

To contain the nuclear waste, the final disposal facility should be located several hundred meters underground. It was found that rocks and sands in the earth's crust would be able to block most of the radiations from coming out of the nuclear waste facility. Scientist have found a natural nuclear reactor that had reactivity and also highly radioactive waste product which stayed put without the elaborate containment we use today on nuclear power plant waste." More than a billion years later, everything is contained within a few meters of its source." (quoted from http://geology.about.com/od/geophysics/a/aaoklo.htm).

Fig 1: Underground waste management facility

The modern waste management facility would look like this. With the disposal canister and all the protection in it, leakage of radiation is impossible but still scientist and engineers have designed the canisters for the worst conditions.The canister itself would look like this. With all the impact absorbers and all the layers of protection it is expected not to leak any radiation.

Fig 2:Disposal Canister

For those who are wondering that the radiation is not leaking but it is actually harming the environment by the leakage of the radioactive waste, the solution for it has already been done. It was found that if the radioactive waste is mixed with glass the waste would become immobilized. Which means it would not leak into the environment.