Radioactive waste

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Radioactive waste containers in the United States
TN 85 transport container from the nuclear waste transport from November 9, 2008 to the Gorleben transport container storage facility

Radioactive waste , usually known colloquially as nuclear waste , is radioactive material that cannot be used or that may no longer be used due to political requirements. Most of the nuclear waste is generated through the use of nuclear energy . Smaller amounts occur in medicine and research; some states have significant legacies from the development and manufacture of nuclear weapons . Any radioactive material that arises and other material contaminated by it are kept in interim storage facilities ; the handling of high-level radioactive waste through final storage , transmutation or reuse is an important task for mankind.

Origin or creation

Generation of radioactive waste from the nuclear industry

The majority of the waste is produced by the uranium industry . Most of the radioactive waste, around 80%, comes from uranium mining ( overburden and tailings ) and is dumped near the respective uranium mine . Highly radioactive waste is mainly generated by nuclear fission and neutron capture in nuclear reactors . Comparatively small amounts of radioactive waste originate from the use of radioactive substances in medicine, industry and research.

Radioactive waste is also generated when materials are contaminated when handling radioactive substances or activated by neutron radiation . For example, the following materials are radioactively contaminated:

  • Construction rubble from the dismantling of nuclear power plants
  • Disused tools and equipment from nuclear power plants
  • Cleaning rags, work clothes, packaging
  • Cleaning water, also as an evaporator concentrate
  • Syringes and cannulas as well as preparations and waste water from nuclear medicine

Are activated in particular

  • Metallic components of nuclear reactors that arise during the dismantling of nuclear power plants.

Classification by activity

Internationally, radioactive waste is divided into low, medium and high level radioactive waste ( low , intermediate and high-level waste , LLW, ILW and HLW). Depending on the type and energy of the radiation and in particular its activity and half-life , different delimitation criteria are used. The International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA made the following classification in 1981:

  • Due to its high activity (> 10 14 Bq / m³; typically 5 · 10 16 - 5 · 10 17 Bq / m³), ​​highly radioactive waste generates considerable decay heat (typically 2 to 20 kilowatts / m³);
  • Medium-level radioactive waste (10 10 - 10 15 Bq / m³) requires shielding measures , but little or no cooling;
  • Low-level radioactive waste (<10 11 Bq / m³) does not require shielding during handling or transport.

The highly radioactive waste has a relatively small proportion (in Germany approx. 10%), but contains the vast majority (approx. 99.9%) of the total radioactivity. The public discussion about the final disposal issue is essentially about such highly radioactive fission products from the use of nuclear energy. For low-level and medium-level waste (which does not generate any heat), repositories are operated or prepared in various countries . In 2015, the Onkalo repository in Olkiluoto in Finland was the world's first repository for high-level radioactive waste to receive a building permit. The storage of spent fuel elements is to begin in 2020.

Decay times of mixtures of nuclides

Composition of the fuel at the beginning and after 3 years of burn-off in a pressurized water reactor

The activity of individual radionuclides decays exponentially. After one half-life it is only half of the initial value, after two half-lives it is a quarter, after ten half-lives it is around a thousandth (2 −10 = 1/1024), after twenty half-lives it is around a millionth. Only when the activity has dropped to the level of natural radioactivity are no more radiation protection measures required. Depending on the initial value, a few to over twenty half-lives may be necessary.

For a given initial amount of radioactive atomic nuclei, the initial activity and half-life are inversely proportional to each other. For example, aluminum activated by neutron capture radiates violently, but has a half-life of only a few minutes, so that the activity is negligible after one hour and no longer detectable after one day. The same amount of freshly activated 60 Co nuclei has a significantly lower initial activity, which, however, remains almost unchanged for months, since the half-life is 5.27 years.

Radioactive waste from neutron activation is only isotopically pure in the rarest of cases. As a rule, they contain mixtures of the most varied of nuclides with very different half-lives. As a result, the decay takes place differently than according to the exponential rule, which only relates to individual isotopes. For example, in addition to the chemical element aluminum, aluminum always contains admixtures of copper and zinc and traces of nickel and cobalt. All of these elements are activated by neutron capture when they are used as material in a reactor. After the end of the neutron irradiation, the previously mentioned short-lived radioactivity of aluminum initially dominates. After ten minutes, however, the total activity does not decrease exponentially, but the longer-lived activity of the activated 64 Cu comes to the fore. After two weeks, the 64 Cu also almost completely decayed, but now the even more long-lived activity of 65 Zn with a half-life of 244 days is evident . It may therefore be that the workpiece has to be kept safe for many years before its residual activity can be neglected. For this reason, alloys with a special composition are used in nuclear facilities whenever possible, in particular cobalt-free steels.

The same applies, on other time scales, to radioactive waste from nuclear power plants. The following essential groups of substances occur there:

  • Fission products , i.e. the “fragments” (spent fuel rods) produced during nuclear fission. They form the bulk of all radioactive waste, but for the most part they are very short-lived (e.g. iodine -131 etc.), but some are also longer-lived (e.g. cesium -137, strontium -90 etc.) or long-lived ( e.g. iodine-129 etc.).
  • Activation products. These are originally non-radioactive materials from the reactor or its surroundings, which have been converted into radioactive nuclides by neutron capture by fission neutrons (the most prominent nuclide here is cobalt -60).
  • Hatched nuclear fuel, e.g. B. Plutonium- 239, which is formed from uranium- 238 through neutron capture and two subsequent beta decays, and plutonium-241, which is produced from plutonium-239 through two neutron captures.
  • Incubated other transuranic elements, such as B. Neptunium- 237, arise when uranium-235 is not split by neutron capture, but the resulting uranium-236 is converted into uranium-237 by further neutron capture, which is then converted into the neptunium isotope by beta decay. Another example is americium -241, which is produced by multiple neutron capture from plutonium-239 via plutonium-240 and -241 with subsequent beta decay.
  • Unused original fuel (uranium-235, plutonium-239 and -241).
  • Unchanged uranium-238 from the original fuel.

Because of the high initial activity, freshly spent fuel rods cannot be transported; they are kept in a cooling pool . Decades of interim storage are then required.

Reprocessing plants should separate unused and produced fuel from radioactive waste for reuse. This greatly reduces the volume of highly radioactive waste and increases the volume of medium and low-level radioactive waste.

The content of radionuclides and their mixing ratio depends on many factors, in particular on the type, origin and history of the waste.

Accruing and accruing quantities

According to the World Nuclear Association, 12,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste are created every year. By the end of 2010, around 300,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste had been produced worldwide, around 70,000 of which in the USA . Around 450 tons of highly radioactive spent fuel elements are produced annually in German nuclear power plants.

In 2008, more than 700,000 tons of radioactive waste of various radiation levels were stored in Russia , 140,000 tons of which from European nuclear power plants. About 200,000 cubic meters of radioactive material need to be disposed of at the Hanford site in the United States. The world's first repository for high-level radioactive waste Onkalo in Finland has a capacity of 6500 tons and is designed to receive the spent fuel elements from the five nuclear power plants in Olkiluoto and Loviisa.

disposal

Operational waste from monitoring areas in nuclear facilities is regarded as radioactive until proven otherwise. In bins like the one shown here, cleaning rags, packaging, paper waste and the like are collected. There are different ways of disposal for combustible and non-combustible waste.

The Konrad mine in Germany is being converted to dispose of low and medium level radioactive waste . This waste represents 90% of the total volume, but only 1% of the radioactivity.

Although technical processes for conditioning and final disposal have been tried out for decades, the disposal of highly radioactive waste has not been resolved. Medium and high level radioactive waste in particular poses major challenges for disposal. Due to the long half-lives of many radioactive substances, German legislation requires safe storage for over 1 million years. The half-life of plutonium- 239 is 24,000 years.

In Germany, the concept of disposal in deep geological formations is favored. One of the main arguments that opponents of nuclear power have been using for years to call for the withdrawal from nuclear technology is the unsecured disposal of radioactive waste. Even transport of nuclear waste repeatedly give rise to demonstrations for a nuclear phase-out . In Europe, 8000 m³ of HLW ( high level waste ) are waiting in interim storage facilities for final disposal, with an annual increase of 280 m³.

The following important information is missing from this article or section:
1. The waste disposal chapter is very Germany-heavy, 2. The current German law on the reorganization of responsibility in nuclear waste management is missing . a. contains the establishment of a fund to finance nuclear waste management (so-called nuclear fund).
Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

costs

According to § 21 of the German Atomic Energy Act , the polluter of radioactive waste is obliged to bear the costs for the exploration, construction and maintenance of facilities for the orderly disposal of the waste. For this purpose, the energy supply companies have to set up reserves, the amount of which was around EUR 28 billion at the end of 2009 and around EUR 32.5 billion at the end of 2013. In order to create a sufficient reserve, it is assumed that the facilities, especially nuclear power plants, can be used for the planned service life. In the event of premature shutdown, this may not be guaranteed.

Critics criticize the fact that this polluter pays principle is being partially overturned in connection with the closure of the Asse mine . The majority of the costs estimated at over 2 billion euros are borne by the federal government, since 95% of the stored activity comes directly from public facilities, especially the Karlsruhe reprocessing plant (WAK). The waste generated by the WAK can, however, be indirectly traced back to experiments with spent fuel elements from commercial power plants, so that there is scope for interpretation when it comes to the polluter question. In order to allow utilities to share in the costs, the nuclear fuel tax was introduced in 2011 , which is supposed to generate annual income of 2.3 billion euros. By the end of 2013, the German energy companies had paid around 4 billion euros in fuel tax, which, however, had to be repaid due to a court ruling. According to an expert opinion commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (2014), there is a risk that the financial provisions of the power plant operators for the dismantling of the nuclear power plants and the disposal of nuclear waste will not be sufficient and that the state will have to bear the costs.

Furthermore, the federal government has to bear the costs for the dismantling and disposal of radioactive waste from the GDR. This applies in particular to the Morsleben repository and part of the inventory of the Lubmin interim storage facility . Overall, the costs to be borne by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research amount to an estimated 3.2 billion euros for the period from 2011 to 2035.

Another point of contention is the public expenditure for securing the transport of nuclear waste , which in the past amounted to up to 25–50 million euros. However, it must be taken into account that protection against disruptions to legitimate activities is a state task, the costs of which cannot be attributed to the operator or organizer of these activities, as is also clear from the example of political demonstrations or similar events.

Until the end of the reprocessing of German nuclear waste in 2005, utilities had to pay fees to the British and French reprocessing plants. In 2000, British Nuclear Fuels and Cogema demanded between 850 and 900 dollars per kilogram of radiation waste when they signed reprocessing contracts with German electricity companies.

Conditioning

The conditioning transforms the radioactive waste into a chemically stable state that is insoluble or only sparingly soluble in water and is packed in accordance with the requirements of transport and final storage. Different processes are used depending on the material.

Highly radioactive fission product solutions that arise during the reprocessing of spent fuel elements are melted down in glass . The resulting glass canisters are corrosion-resistant and insoluble in water. They are also packed watertight in stainless steel containers.

However, researchers discovered that the actinides ( uranium , neptunium , plutonium ) in nuclear waste can react with the boron glass from which the molds are made under the influence of water if the stainless steel casing becomes leaky due to corrosion. The resulting crystals could theoretically destroy the glass. However, other researchers consider it impossible to destroy the glass despite the reactions, because the concentration of actinides in real nuclear waste would be too low.

As an alternative to this, work is being carried out on integration into ceramics ; chemically stable storage is also guaranteed here.

Other radioactive waste - depending on the type - is brought into a chemically stable form that is as space-saving as possible and then usually fixed in a chemically stable, water-insoluble matrix (cement, bitumen) using different processes (e.g. incineration, pressing). Some radioactive substances can be recycled, among other things radioactive solutions are used to mix cement in the fixation of other waste and shielding plates for containers are made from low-level radioactive steel scrap.

Final disposal

Due to the long periods of time and due to the radioactivity , the storage materials are not necessarily able to hold back the substances involved in the long term. Therefore, the safe storage of the processed waste is critical. Even after the storage container has disintegrated, the radioactive substances should be transported through the rock very slowly. The geological properties of the mountains must guarantee the safe containment of radioactive substances so that they cannot get into the biosphere . For long periods of time, chemical reactions in the repository could play a role if water penetrates into the repository area. In addition to the corrosion of storage containers, a variety of reactions could occur with the radionuclides present in the waste : dissolution and precipitation reactions , redox reactions , complex formation reactions , radiolysis and colloid formation . In this case, a radionuclide transport in the area of ​​the repository must be assumed. The investigations into the creation of warning signs and warning symbols, which indicate the stored radioactive substances for thousands of years, are summarized under the term atomic semiotics .

In principle, the same requirements apply to the exploration, establishment, operation and also the safeguarding of repositories for radioactive substances as to repositories for non-radioactive, highly toxic substances. As repositories are about salt domes discussed in geologically stable rock formations. Even granite , claystone and tuff come as host rocks in question. The Konrad repository is being built for low and medium level radioactive waste . For highly radioactive waste, the question of final disposal in Germany is still open. The exploration of the site in the Gorleben salt dome in northern Germany, which has been ongoing since 1979 , was interrupted by the BMUB in October 2000 ; A new selection of locations is currently to take place, including Gorleben and other locations (as of 2015). The working group for the selection process for a repository site (AkEnd) was commissioned to set up scientifically sound criteria for a relatively safe repository. The AKEnd's report had already been submitted in 2002.

In 2011 the EU Commission passed a new directive. According to this, all 14 countries using nuclear energy must find a solution for the final storage of radioactive waste by 2015. Otherwise, Brussels can take legal action against defaulting states and initiate infringement proceedings before the European Court of Justice. The states have to submit national plans, but several member states can also decide to jointly use a repository in an EU state. Exports of radioactive waste to countries outside the EU were not explicitly prohibited with the new directive. They are permitted on condition that a repository in deep geological formations is already in operation in the target country. However, the transport of nuclear waste to African, Caribbean, Pacific countries and the Antarctic has long been banned by appropriate guidelines.

In 2015, the Finnish government issued the building permit for the ONKALO repository for high-level radioactive waste. It should go into operation in 2020.

Recycling

Under certain circumstances, using the highly radioactive waste beyond the production of new nuclear fuel in breeder reactors is conceivable. The fission and decay products include valuable substances such as rhodium , ruthenium and the radioactive element technetium . Since today's light water reactors only use around 5% of the energy that is available in new fuel elements, there is potential here.

Many radioactively contaminated substances can - if economically feasible - be cleaned ( decontamination ) and, if they are proven to be free from contamination or if they are below limit values ​​( free measurement ), they can be used normally. Furthermore, radioactive residues can be reused in nuclear technology; so z. B. low-level radioactive scrap steel processed to shields for waste containers.

A concept for energetic recycling of radioactive waste that has been in development since the 1950s is the running wave reactor . As with the breeder reactor, this breeds its fuel, but can also be operated with raw uranium or already spent nuclear fuel and thus recycle the residues from its own production. In theory, it is thus possible to use as fuel material that is currently considered radioactive waste. This would contribute to about 20 to 50 times more efficient use of nuclear fuel. The technology required for this has been developed since the 1970s, but has so far only been implemented in a few commercial reactors.

The only breeder reactors in commercial operation today are the Russian BN-600 and the successor model BN-800 , both in the Russian nuclear power plant Belojarsk in Saretschny . The BN-800 has been feeding electricity into the Russian grid since December 10, 2015 and has been in commercial operation since October 31, 2016.

Australia is currently planning (as of 2015) the construction of breeder reactors of the PRISM series ( General Electric and Hitachi ) for the recycling of radioactive waste.

The dual-fluid reactor could also use old fuel rods as fuel if it were to be implemented.

Transmutation

There are proposals to convert the long-lived nuclides from highly radioactive waste in suitable facilities (special reactors, spallation neutron sources) into short-lived nuclides by neutron bombardment , which considerably shortens the necessary duration of the closure from the biosphere and possibly even enables the materials that are created to be recycled would. However, the relevant research into transmutation is still in its infancy. So far, no productive transmutation facility for the disposal of nuclear waste has been implemented anywhere in the world; small facilities have only been implemented as part of research projects.

Legal disposal in marine waters

Radioactive waste could legally be dumped in the seas until this procedure was banned in 1994 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), at least for solids. All nuclear waste-producing countries have sunk more than 100,000 tons of radioactive waste in the sea in less than 50 years. The British sank the largest proportion of this with 80%, followed by Switzerland, which until 1982 dumped low and medium level waste as well as radioactive waste from industry, medicine and research in the North Atlantic under the leadership of the OECD . The United States has admitted to the International Atomic Energy Agency that between 1946 and 1970 it had sunk over 90,000 containers of radioactive waste off its coasts. A few hundred tons of nuclear waste from Germany were disposed of in the sea.

During a record dive of the Trieste on January 23, 1960, the marine researcher Jacques Piccard discovered that there are also currents in the deep sea and that living beings live even on the deepest seabed. Since then, Piccard has warned against sinking radioactive waste in the sea, as the currents sooner or later reach the surface. The direct discharge of radioactive wastewater into sea waters is still legal and is also practiced: The La Hague reprocessing plant conducts 400 cubic meters of radioactive wastewater daily into the English Channel through a four-and-a-half kilometer pipe . The Sellafield nuclear complex (formerly Windscale) also legally discharges radioactive waste water into the Irish Sea . These discharges exceed the discharges from the La Hague plant for almost all nuclides .

In the Arctic Sea, the world's most important fishing area for cod, the Russian Northern Fleet has disposed of nuclear waste at shallow depths, including entire nuclear reactors, some of which are still equipped with spent fuel elements .

Storage in the open air

The open storage of radioactive waste in the open air is not permitted in any country in Western Europe. The open storage of containers with radioactive waste in the open air is problematic because of the increased corrosion of the storage containers under weather conditions and solar radiation. In Central Europe, the permanent open storage of containers with radioactive waste is not politically desired or legally permitted in any country.

As a political way out, the export of containers with radioactive waste is being promoted as a legal measure by various governments. As a rule, the foreign storage locations are not checked. The storage is uncritically commented on by local security officers in the recipient countries because of a lack of education and overriding economic interests.

Hypothetical scenarios of a plane crash, fire or a similar accident in the vicinity of the container cannot be managed either by preventive measures or by immediate measures due to a lack of preparation. The most recent forest fires in the vicinity of storage locations show the endangerment of the atmosphere from fires and the ashes being carried out by the wind.

In October 2009, the coverage of the film Nightmare Nuclear Waste made it public that France had been secretly transporting a not inconsiderable amount of its nuclear waste to Siberia since the 1990s. In the city of Seversk , where more than 100,000 people live, almost 13% of French radioactive waste is stored in open-air containers in a parking lot. In addition, it became public that Germany is exporting even larger amounts of radioactive waste to Russia. It is depleted uranium in the form of uranium hexafluoride , which is to be further processed. Storage in the open air is common in many countries; the radioactivity of this waste is below that of natural uranium.

The Kyrgyz city ​​of Mailuussuu is surrounded by 36 unsecured stores of uranium waste and is one of the ten worst contaminated areas on earth. Since at least 2009 there has been a threat of 180,000 cubic meters of uranium sludge sliding into a river, which would radioactively contaminate drinking water in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan .

Illegal disposal

In September 2009, 28 kilometers off the coast of southern Italy, the wreck of a 110 meter long freighter with 120 containers of nuclear waste on board was discovered. This confirmed the suspicion, which had existed for decades, that the Italian mafia is disposing of toxic waste in the Mediterranean. At least 32 ships with toxic and nuclear waste are said to have been sunk in this way in the Adriatic Sea , the Tyrrhenian Sea and off the coasts of Africa. The origin of the radioactive material has not yet been clarified. Not only the Ndrangheta are said to have been involved, but also the secret service and politics - some investigators at the time are not allowed to speak about the incidents “for institutional reasons”; there are unexplained deaths that are linked to these cases. Toxic chemical waste has apparently also been disposed of in this way.

According to a Mafia key witness, millions of tons of highly toxic rubbish are said to have been buried around Naples, including nuclear waste and nuclear waste from Germany that contains highly radioactive gamma emitters. Doctors complain about rising cancer rates in this area, including many children with cancer. The police confiscated contaminated vegetables.

Between 1991 and 1994, used radioactive and chemical weapons from Soviet stocks were illegally sunk in the Baltic Sea.

Weapons production

Depleted uranium is a waste product from the enrichment of uranium for energy generation or weapons production. This is partly used to produce uranium ammunition . In addition to the militarily desired destructive effect, this ammunition unfolds a harmful effect on the human organism both because of the radioactivity and because of the chemical toxicity of uranium. There is disagreement about the real extent of the threat. Opponents of these weapons, such as the organization Doctors for the Prevention of Nuclear War , hold uranium ammunition responsible for cancer, deformities and consequential damage such as the Gulf War Syndrome .

For example, during a three-week deployment in the 2003 Iraq war, the coalition of the willing used between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of uranium ammunition.

Disposal without precise evidence

In December 2009, research by the WDR radio station made it known to the public that millions of tons of radioactive residues are produced annually in the production of oil and natural gas worldwide, most of which are disposed of without evidence and improperly (i.e. like non-radioactive waste). Sludge and wastewater pumped to the earth's surface as part of the extraction contain TENORM substances (Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material), among others. a. the highly toxic and long-lived radium 226 and polonium 210. The specific activity of the waste is between 0.1 and 15,000 Becquerel (Bq) per gram. In Germany, where around 1000 to 2000 tons of dry matter are produced per year, the material is already in need of monitoring from 1 Bq per gram according to the radiation protection ordinance of 2011 and would have to be disposed of separately. The implementation of this regulation has been left to the responsibility of the industry; for decades it disposed of the waste carelessly and improperly. Cases are documented in which waste with an average of 40 Bq / g was stored on company premises without any labeling and should also not be labeled for transport.

In countries with larger amounts of oil or gas produced, significantly more waste is generated than in Germany; in no country is there an independent, continuous and complete recording and monitoring of contaminated residues from oil and gas production. The industry deals with the material differently: In Kazakhstan , large areas of land are contaminated by this waste, in Great Britain the radioactive residues are discharged into the North Sea.

In the United States , almost every state is experiencing increasing problems due to radioactive contamination from oil production. In Martha, a community in Kentucky , Ashland Inc. has sold thousands of contaminated production pipes to farmers, kindergartens, and schools, but withheld the contamination from them. Up to 11 µ Sv per hour were measured. The primary school and some residential buildings were cleared after the radiation was discovered.

In the Japanese prefecture of Fukushima , after the nuclear disaster, some of the radioactive waste was buried there in children's playgrounds and in front gardens, and it was also thrown into forests and streams.

Disposal concepts rejected under international law

Storage in Antarctica

Final storage under the Antarctic ice sheet would in principle make it possible to separate radioactive waste from the biosphere very safely. The heat generation of some waste would be disadvantageous, which could have a negative effect on the stability of the storage chambers or the like. Radioactive contamination of the fragile Antarctic ecosystem, for example through accidents, cannot be ruled out either. It is controversial to what extent the long-term isolation of the waste is ensured. On the one hand, the ice walls could melt due to the greenhouse effect; on the other hand, the opposite effect is observed.

The Antarctic Treaty prescribes high environmental standards for the sixth continent; use as a repository for radioactive materials is therefore not possible under international law.

Disposal in space

There are also proposals to dispose of the nuclear waste in space . In addition to storage in asteroids and on other planets, there are also considerations of shooting the garbage directly into the sun . If this succeeds, the nuclear waste would actually be effectively isolated from the biosphere. However, with the current state of the art, this is countered by the immense costs of rocket-based space travel , which would be incurred just to reach Earth orbit. For example, with a Proton rocket, the cost is around 4,000 euros for one kilogram of payload.

In order to transport the annual amount of 12,000 tons of highly radioactive waste into space, 2,000 rockets would have to be launched every year, around six per day. The approximately 300,000 tons that have accumulated worldwide to date would also have to be disposed of. According to other considerations, however, this amount of waste could be significantly reduced if the spent fuel elements in the PUREX process were concentrated on highly radioactive residual waste (to about 1/20), which would make economic feasibility more realistic.

Furthermore, there would be an enormous risk, since many starts would have to take place annually and in the event of a false start, which occurs with a probability> 1% in all existing carrier systems, a release of the radioactive load on earth or by burning up in the atmosphere would be expected. The consequence would be extensive contamination. A necessary safe packaging of the freight - as it is z. As in for space probes used radionuclide is used - would indeed be able to a false start with high probability without leakage to survive, however, would multiply the substance to be carried crowd and make the disposal costs completely utopian. There are also proposals to equip the rockets with a rescue rocket each , but this would also increase the weight noticeably.

Ballistic and ground-based propulsion methods are also discussed as an alternative to transport using the problematic and expensive rocket technology . Advantages would be significantly reduced costs through a higher payload share and also a lower risk of accidents, including a. since no highly explosive rocket fuel would be carried. However, a complete technical solution does not yet exist, possible technology prototypes of light gas cannons or railguns only achieve part of the escape speed that would be necessary to overcome the earth's gravity field (see also HARP and SHARP projects).

Although work continues on improvements and new drive technologies, e.g. B. the "Advanced Propulsion Concepts" from JPL , Lightcrafts or the space elevator , which are supposed to reduce transport costs noticeably, these approaches, which are currently being developed, are not yet within the reach of a technical or economic feasibility.

Section A, Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty (quotation Paragraph A, Art. IX, sentence 2: "States Parties to the Treaty shall pursue studies of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, and conduct exploration of them so." as to avoid their harmful contamination (...) " ) against the disposal of hazardous substances in space. In addition, it can be derived from the “Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space” that the transfer of radioactive materials into space is undesirable.

The Soviet RORSAT satellites carried nuclear reactors powered by uranium-235. Normally, at the end of their life, the reactor cores were launched into a high orbit (a so-called "elimination orbit"). If no further measures are taken, the highly radioactive objects will return to the earth's atmosphere after a few hundred years (then clearly radioactive decay, as planned).

Radioactive waste hazards

Environmental organizations have been warning for years that there will never be safe storage of nuclear waste for hundreds of thousands of years. Greenpeace therefore urges u. a. an end to nuclear waste production and a legally stipulated nuclear waste export ban.

An increase in the activity concentration of 137 Cs was detected in the North Sea in the early 1970s . Measurements have shown that the reprocessing plant in Sellafield, England, was also responsible for this contamination. In the 1980s, discharges decreased, so that this reduction was also measurable in the North Sea. When bladderwrack was harvested in the Irish Sea and processed into food, feed and fertilizer, radioactive material found its way into the food chain . According to studies by the Öko-Institut , the doses absorbed via this path are relatively low. According to this study, the effective doses for the wastewater path of this plant were 7.9 m Sv / a (millisievert per year) for adults and 7.7 mSv / a for small children, while comparable values ​​for La Hague were 2.3 and 0.83 mSv / a. German limit values ​​of the Radiation Protection Ordinance would be exceeded for Sellafield.

Radioactive waste accidents

A number of incidents occurred when radioactive material was not properly disposed of - for example in a junkyard, from where it was sometimes even stolen - or when the shielding was defective during transport.

In the Soviet Union waste from was nuclear facility Majak , which in Lake Karachay was disposed, during a storm dispersed into the environment after the lake was partially dried.

At a low-level radioactive waste disposal plant in Maxey Flat , Kentucky , disposal pits that were covered only with earth instead of steel or cement have collapsed due to heavy rain and filled with water. The penetrated water was contaminated and had to be treated in the disposal factory itself.

The uranium fuel for Fermis Chicago Pile -1 was made from uranium ore by G. Mallinckrodt & Co in St. Louis . The resulting radioactive waste is stored, more or less kept secret, in a landfill there . During heavy rains, radioactive material was washed into the neighboring Coldwater Creek . There have been protests from residents to this day against this landfill operated by the waste management company Republic Services , as the area has an increased cancer rate .

In other radioactive waste incidents, lakes or ponds have been flooded with nuclear waste during exceptionally strong storms. Radioactive material ended up in rivers. This happened in Italy, for example, where water suitable for drinking was also contaminated. In France, a number of incidents occurred in the summer of 2008, one of them at the Tricastin nuclear facility , where liquid containing untreated uranium flowed from a defective tank during an evacuation operation, and approximately 75 kg of the radioactive material seeped into the ground and from there in two nearby rivers. In another case, 100 employees were exposed to small doses of radiation. The day of this event fell within a 15-day period in which a total of 126 workers were irradiated in four malfunctions in four different French nuclear power plants.

Looting of old, poorly guarded radioactive material has been the cause of several other incidents in which people have been exposed to hazardous radiation. These mostly occurred in developing countries, which have fewer regulations for the handling of dangerous substances, do less general education about radioactivity and its dangers and also have a market for scrap metal and looted goods. Both the looters themselves and the buyers of the material are mostly unaware that the material is radioactive, especially since it is also often chosen for its aesthetic value. Irresponsibility on the part of the original owner of the radioactive material - usually hospitals, universities or the military - and the lack of or inconsistent implementation of regulations on handling nuclear waste are major factors that lead to such accidents. Examples of such incidents are the Goiânia accident and the Samut Prakan nuclear accident .

In the successor states of the USSR, 1000–1500 radioisotope generators (RTGs) have been produced since 1976 to generate electricity in remote areas , in which large amounts (up to over 100 kg) of radioactive material, mostly 90 Sr , were used. All of these devices have now exceeded their service life. Due to the slow dismantling and disposal by the responsible authorities as well as the mostly inadequate security of these facilities, there were releases of radioactive material through corrosion and in particular through metal theft until at least 2006.

It was also reported from Georgia that lumberjacks found the remains of the isotope batteries of former mobile military radio systems in forests. In Georgia, the IAEA and the Georgian government are actively looking for so-called orphan emitters ("abandoned emitters"), as serious injuries have already occurred. In addition to the RTGs containing 90 Sr, these are mainly 137 Cs sources from military and agricultural use.

Various accidents occurred with the nuclear-powered RORSAT satellites , in which several reactor cores fell back to earth and, for example, in the case of Kosmos 954, an area of ​​124,000 square kilometers of the Canadian Northwest Territories was contaminated with nuclear waste.

Transport accidents with spent fuel rods from nuclear power plants have never led to radioactive contamination of people or the environment due to the strength of the transport containers.

See also

literature

  • Klaus Humann: Nuclear waste or saying goodbye to an expensive dream. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 1977, ISBN 3-499-14117-5
  • Peter Hocke, Armin Grunwald: What to do with radioactive waste? - Perspectives for a social science repository research. Ed. Sigma, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-89404-938-6
  • Hans-Werner Rengeling: Legal questions on the long-term safeguarding of repositories for radioactive waste. Heymann, Cologne 1995, ISBN 3-452-23122-4
  • Ulrike Kronfeld-Goharani: A legacy of the maritime arms race - the nuclear waste of the Northern Fleet . Schleswig-Holstein Institute for Peace Studies, ship texts no. 53, Kiel 1999
  • Robert B. Clark (et al.): Radioactivity. in: Marine pollution. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-19-879292-1 , pp. 151-173
  • H. Nies (et al.): Transport mechanisms of radioactive substances in the Arctic Ocean. Reports of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency No. 21, Hamburg 1999 online (PDF; 5.4 MB), 134 p., Accessed October 23, 2009
  • Peter Drasdo: Costs of the final storage of radioactive waste. Oldenbourg-Industrieverl., Munich 2001, ISBN 3-486-26523-7
  • Peter Riley: Nuclear waste - law, policy and pragmatism. Ashgate, Aldershot 2004, ISBN 0-7546-2318-1
  • Michael I. Ojovan, WE Lee: An introduction to nuclear waste immobilization. Elsevier, Amsterdam 2005, ISBN 0-08-044462-8
  • Mikhail Kh. Khankhasayev: Nuclear methods for transmutation of nuclear waste - problems, perspectives, cooperative research. World Scientific Publ., 1997, ISBN 981-02-3011-7
  • pub.iaea.org: Radioactive Waste Management Glossary ( Glossary Radioactive Waste Management ), IAEA , 2003 Edition (PDF, 61 pages, 551 kB)
  • Klaus Stierstadt: Nuclear waste - where should it go? Harri Deutsch publishing house, Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-8171-1868-7
  • Klaus-Jürgen Röhlig, Horst Geckeis, Kurt Mengel: Disposal of radioactive waste. Part 1: Facts and Concepts . In: Chemistry in Our Time . tape 46 , no. 3 , 2012, p. 140-149 , doi : 10.1002 / ciuz.201200578 .
    • Part 2: The host rocks: mudstone, granite, rock salt . In: Chemistry in our time , Volume 46, No. 4, 2012, pp. 208-217, doi : 10.1002 / ciuz.201200582
    • Part 3: Chemistry in the repository system . In: Chemistry in our time , Volume 46, No. 5, 2012, pp. 282-293, doi : 10.1002 / ciuz.201200583

Film documentaries

  • Éric Guéret, Laure Noualhat, 2009: Nightmare Nuclear Waste ( Déchets, le cauchemar du nucléaire ). 98 min. Edition arte.
  • Peter Indergand , 2013: The journey to the safest place on earth

Web links

Commons : Radioactive Waste  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

swell

  1. ↑ Comparison of the HAW definitions in different countries (PDF; 54 kB)
  2. ↑ IAEA Safety Series No. 111 ( Memento from October 22, 2004 in the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ http://www.wdr.de/tv/quarks/sendungsbeitraege/2010/1109/003_asse.jsp
  4. ↑ http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendung/umwelt/1429422/
  5. ↑ http://www.3sat.de/page/?source=/nano/umwelt/147735/index.html
  6. ↑ http://www.taz.de/1/zukunft/schwerpunkt-anti-akw/artikel/1/ab-nach-sibirien/
  7. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/weltspiegel352.html ( Memento from April 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ http://www.bmub.bund.de/themen/atomenergie-strahlenschutz/nukleare-sicherheit/sicherheit-endlager/sicherheitsanorders/
  9. ↑ Christopher Schrader: Highly radioactive waste garbage dump for eternity . Süddeutsche Zeitung . October 29, 2008. Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Retrieved on December 28, 2011.
  10. ↑ a b Legal basis and organizational implementation in the Federal Republic of Germany. Repository projects. Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, December 23, 2013, accessed on March 2, 2014 .
  11. ↑ http://dip21.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/034/1703447.pdf Question 24
  12. ↑ http://www.greenpeace.de/themen/atomkraft/presseerklaerungen/artikel/grosteile_der_radioaktivitaet_im_atommuelllager_asse_ii_stammt-1 ( Memento from February 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  13. ↑ http://www.bmub.bund.de/fileadmin/bmu-import/files/pdfs/allgemein/application/pdf/hg_finanzierung_asse_bf.pdf
  14. ↑ http://dipbt.bundestag.de/dip21/btd/17/030/1703054.pdf
  15. ^ Daniel Wetzel: Fuel element tax: Federal government threatens billions in payment to nuclear companies. Economy. In: The world. Axel Springer SE, November 19, 2013, accessed on March 2, 2014 : "In total, the total claim [...] adds up to more than four billion euros [...]." "
  16. ↑ Report: Financial provisions in the nuclear energy sector (PDF)
  17. ↑ [1]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Question 29@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.bmub.bund.de  
  18. ^ Expensive, more expensive, Castor transport. In: sueddeutsche.de. November 9, 2010, accessed March 9, 2018 .
  19. ↑ Secret documents of the Ministry of Atomic Energy: Deposits also planned for German companies / $ 21 billion revenue expected - Russia is planning a repository for nuclear waste from the West , berliner-zeitung.de
  20. ↑ Christoph Seidler: Doubt about the concept, researchers argue about the long-term safety of nuclear waste storage , Spiegel Online , February 2, 2010, accessed on February 26, 2010.
  21. ↑ Brussels forces an answer to the German repository question . The time . July 19, 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  22. ↑ Nuclear waste and final storage: Europe adopts EU rules for the first time on site, July 20, 2011
  23. ↑ Press release of the European Commission of July 19, 2011
  24. ↑ БН-800 сдан в промышленную эксплуатацию. AtomInfo.Ru, accessed May 10, 2018 (Russian).
  25. ^ IAEA PRIS (Power Reactor Information System). International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), accessed July 12, 2018 .
  26. ↑ Nuclear waste: Australia wants to continue using radioactive waste with a new power plant , Wirtschaftswoche Green Economy, June 8, 2015, accessed on August 26, 2015
  27. ^ Australian senator shares nuclear vision , World Nuclear News, March 12, 2015, accessed August 26, 2015
  28. ^ Recycling nuclear waste for power generation , ABC News, March 2, 2015, accessed August 26, 2015
  29. ↑ Report on transmutation in Science Daily (Sept. 2008) (English)
  30. ↑ Main Department for the Safety of Nuclear Facilities, Proof of Disposal: A Stage on a Long Road ( Memento of July 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) , 2005, PDF file.
  31. ↑ ARTE reports on the topic of "Seabed repository"
  32. ↑ Karin Beindorff: Dossier - Shining forever? (Part II) (PDF) Deutschlandfunk . December 18, 2009. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  33. ↑ Lasse Ringius: Radioactive waste disposal at sea: public ideas, transnational policy entrepreneurs, and environmental regimes. MIT Press, Cambridge 2001, ISBN 0-262-18202-5, ISBN 0-262-68118-8 ; P. 25, @google books
  34. ^ "Truffle Pigs" - Episode 2: Jacques Piccard, deep sea researcher , Radio SRF archive recording, minute 29
  35. ↑ Reimar Paul: Documentation about nuclear waste: And the mountain of waste is constantly growing , taz.de. October 13, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
  36. ↑ ARTE video: Arctic nuclear cemetery (documentation) ( Memento from July 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  37. ↑ a b http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/atommuellfrankreich100.html ( Memento of October 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) ( archived ( Memento of October 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ))
  38. ^ Controversy over old uranium: nuclear waste disposal companies move from Siberia to Westphalia , Der Spiegel, 2009
  39. ↑ Andrea Rehmsmeier : "We breathe uranium, we eat uranium" . Deutschlandfunk . October 10, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
  40. ↑ Dirty Mafia business: 120 containers of nuclear waste sunk in the Mediterranean , Spiegel Online. September 14, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
  41. ↑ Michael Braun: Nuclear waste in the Mediterranean: Sinking ships with the Mafia , taz.de. September 18, 2009. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
  42. ↑ Nuclear Waste, Agents and the Mafia , SWR2 Wissen from March 19, 2010
    manuscript (PDF; 125 kB), podcast.de  (     page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (27 min)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.podcast.de  
  43. ↑ br.de ( Memento from February 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) “Deadly toxic waste in Italy A Mafia key witness and the trace to Germany” from January 21, 2014, accessed on May 18, 2014
  44. ↑ Russia disposed of Soviet nuclear weapons in the Baltic Sea Die Presse, February 4, 2010 (accessed February 4, 2010)
  45. ↑ Article with illus. a. to birth defects (English)
  46. ↑ https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/apr/25/internationaleducationnews.armstrade
  47. ↑ http://www.wdr5.de/sendung/neugier-genuegt/s/d/07.12.2009-10.05/b/strahlende-quellen.html ( Memento from December 20, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
  48. ↑ a b http://www.tagesschau.de/inland/radioaktivitaet104.html ( Memento of December 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) ( archived ( Memento of December 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ))
  49. ↑ a b Unknown hazard - radioactive waste from the oil and gas industry . In: Deutschlandfunk . February 5, 2010. Retrieved February 6, 2010.
  50. ↑ http://www1.wdr.de/themen/archiv/oelquellen-industrie100.html
  51. ↑ Radioactive Residue - Oil production problems affect Kentucky residents . In: Deutschlandfunk . March 9, 2010. Retrieved March 13, 2010.
  52. ↑ - ( Memento from March 10, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
  53. ^ The Antarctic Ice Sheet is Growing , Die Welt Online, March 7, 2005.
  54. ^ NASA : Analysis of space systems study for the space disposal of nuclear waste study report. Volume 2: Technical report ( English , pdf) NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS). January 1, 1981. Retrieved December 28, 2011.
  55. ↑ a b Yuri Cherkashin: Wastes on the Sun? - System of disposal of nuclear and high toxic wastes. Design. . 2004. Archived from the original on March 11, 2008. Retrieved on December 19, 2011.
  56. ↑ Solar power from space - priceless for all time? ( Memento of November 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on drg-gss.org.
  57. ↑ Space Transportation Costs: Trends in Price per Pound to Orbit 1990–2000 ( English , PDF; 271 kB) futron.com. September 6, 2002. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
  58. ↑ Daniel Haase: What to do with the nuclear waste? - The desperate search for the repository . wdr.de. November 5, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2011.
  59. ↑ Bernd Leitenberger: Nuclear waste disposal in space . October 15, 2009. Retrieved January 8, 2012.
  60. ↑ a b Jonathan Coopersmith: Nuclear waste in space? ( English ) thespacereview.com. August 22, 2005. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  61. ↑ David Shiga: Blasted into space from a giant air gun ( English ) newscientist.com. October 7, 2009. Retrieved December 21, 2011.
  62. ↑ YG Cherkashin: Nuclear And Other High Toxic Wastes Disposal Near A Surface Of The Sun . (pdf) In: ecosun.org (ed.): Atomnaya Strategiya . September 2004.
  63. ^ Charlene Crabb: Shooting at the moon . In: newscientist.com (Ed.): New Scientist . No. 1937, August 6, 1994. Retrieved December 29, 2011.
  64. ↑ Lightcraft Propulsion for Launching a Small Satellite defensetechbriefs.com, February 1, 2010, accessed November 22, 2010
  65. ↑ Lightcraft: A Laser Push to Orbit , centauri-dreams.org, September 14, 2009 (Eng.)
  66. ↑ United Nations, Treaties and Principles On Outer Space , 2002 - Outer Space Treaty and related agreements (PDF file; 233 kB)
  67. ↑ http://www.greenpeace.de/fileadmin/gpd/user_upload/themen/atomkraft/flyer_atommuellendlager_2006.pdf ( Memento from June 1, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
  68. ↑ radioactivity of the sea . Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency . March 11, 2008. Archived from the original on January 5, 2011. Retrieved on November 7, 2010.
  69. ^ Study of the Öko-Institut zu Sellafield and La Hague by the BfS . Federal Office for Radiation Protection . May 26, 2003. Archived from the original on January 16, 2011. Retrieved on November 7, 2010.
  70. ↑ http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Magazines/Bulletin/Bull413/article1.pdf
  71. ↑ Chelyabinsk-65 . Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
  72. ↑ Der Standard , October 2017 [2]
  73. ^ New incident at French nuclear plant , Reuters . September 8, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
  74. ↑ 'It feels like a sci-fi film' - accidents tarnish nuclear dream (en) , The Guardian . July 25, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
  75. ^ Muriel Boselli: Interview - Too many French nuclear workers contaminated (en) , Reuters. July 24, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2010. 
  76. ^ The Radiological Accident in Goiânia ( en ) IAEA . September 16, 1988. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
  77. ↑ a b Oberfeldarzt Dr. Bernd Schmitt: Introduction and optimization of personal dosimetry using electronic gamma dosimeters for German UNOMIG soldiers in Georgia for monitoring and risk assessment with regard to stray emitters . In: Military Medical Monthly . Vol. 53, No. 3 , September 2009, p. 268-269 .
  78. ↑ Rashid Alimov: radioisotopes Thermoelectric Generator ( Memento of 13 October 2013 Internet Archive ) Belonia, April 2005 accessed November 7, 2010
  79. ↑ Chernobyl-like slovenliness today: RTGs are being vandalized near Norilsk ( Memento from June 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (2006)
  80. ↑ IAEA Bulletin Volume 48, No.1 - Remote Control: Decommissioning RTGs ( Memento from September 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) (English; PDF; 279 kB)
  81. ^ Transport of Radioactive Materials, World Nuclear Association
  82. ↑ Safety requirements for the transport of radioactive substances, Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety, 2012
  83. ↑ Nightmare Nuclear Waste - A documentary by Eric Guéret & Laure Noualhat . Arte.tv. April 19, 2010. Archived from the original on March 25, 2010. Retrieved on November 7, 2010.
  84. ↑ diereisezumsicherstenortdererde.ch/de/ (October 31, 2016)