"Low-Level" Radioactive Waste is one of the most misleading terms ever created. In the U.S., it is all nuclear waste that is not legally high-level waste, some transuranic waste, or mill tailings. FACTSHEET: "LOW-LEVEL" RADIOACTIVE WASTE
WHAT IS "LOW-LEVEL" RADIOACTIVE WASTE ?
"Low-Level" Radioactive Waste includes:The highly radioactive and long-lived reactor wastes are included in the "low-level" waste category along with the much less concentrated and generally much shorter-lived wastes from medical treatment and diagnosis and some types of scientific research.
- Irradiated Components and Piping: reactor hardware and pipes that are in continual contact with highly radioactive water for the 20 to 30 years the reactor operates. The metal becomes "activated" or radioactive itself from bombardment by neutrons that are released when energy is produced. Also called Irradiated Primary System Components.
- Control Rods: from the core of nuclear power plants--rods that regulate and stop the nuclear reactions in the reactor core
- Poison Curtains: which absorb neutrons from the water in the reactor core and irradiated fuel (high level waste) pool.
- Resins, Sludges, Filters and Evaporator Bottoms: from cleansing the water that circulates around the irradiated fuel in the reactor vessel and in the fuel pool, which holds the irradiated fuel when it is removed from the core.
- Entire Nuclear Power Plants if and when they are dismantled. This includes, for example, from a typical 1,000 megawatt nuclear reactor building floor: over 13,000 tons of contaminated concrete and over 1,400 tons of contaminated reinforcing steel bar.
RADIOACTIVE CONCENTRATION vs VOLUME
The nuclear industry and government commonly describe "low-level" waste in terms of volume although there can be a tremendous concentration of radioactivity in a small package and a small concentration in a big package. The amount of radioactivity, measured in CURIES, indicates how much radioactive energy is being emitted by the waste. (1 Curie = 37,000,000,000 or 37 Billion disintegrations or radioactive emissions per second from a radioactive material.)The medical waste from diagnosis and treatment shipped in one year from most states usually gives off a fraction of one curie of radiation. In contrast, each nuclear reactor generates hundreds and thousands of curies in "low-level" waste every year.
Nuclear reactor waste is concentrated: Solidified liquid emits about 2 curies per cubic meter; Filter/Demineralizer sludges emit about 10 curies per cubic meter; Cartridge filters emit about 20 curies per cubic meter; Demineralizer resins emit about 160 curies per cubic meter.Primary Components average 1000 to 5000 curies per cubic meter.
All of this material is legally considered low-level.
HALF-LIFE and HAZARDOUS LIFE
Radioactive elements decay by emitting energy in the form of radioactive particles and rays. As radiation is given off, other elements (some radioactive and some stable) are formed.The Half-Life is the time it takes for HALF of the radioactive element to decay (give off half of its radioactivity). Different radioactive elements have different half-lives.
The Hazardous Life of a radioactive element is about 10 or 20 Half-Lives. (It is best to measure the amount of radiation after 10 or 20 half-lives before releasing waste from active controls.)
Reactor waste remains hazardous for a very long time. Most medical waste from treatment and diagnosis is hazardous for a very short time. Research and industrial waste can contain small amounts of some long-lived radioactive materials.
Among the radioactive elements commonly found in nuclear reactor "low-level" waste are:
By contrast, common medical waste elements include Technetium-99m, with a half-life of 6 hours and a hazardous life of 2.5-5 days; Galium-67, half-life of 78 hours and hazardous life of 1-2 months; and Iodine-131, with its half-life of 8 days and hazardous life of 80-160 days.Tritium, with a half-life of 12 years and a hazardous life of 120-240 years Iodine-131, half-life of 8 days, hazardous life of 80-160 days Strontium-90, half life of 28 years, hazardous life of 280-560 years Nickel-59, half life of 76,000 years, hazardous life of 760,000-1,520,000 years Iodine-129, half-life of sixteen million years, hazardous life of 160-320 million years. The vast majority of medical waste is hazardous for less than 8 months. Yet, it is in the same category as reactor waste that will be hazardous for hundreds of thousands to millions of years.
Clearly, the definition of "low-level radioactive waste" must be changed. It would make sense to redefine the more concentrated and/or longer-lived waste as high-level. Active recontainerization and operational control must be provided for the entire hazardous life of the waste, yet the NRC requires only 100 years of passive institutional control. Thus, waste hazardous longer than 100 years could be forgotten. Retrievability is essential.
PLANNED LEAKAGE AND "ACCEPTABLE" RISK
Waste containers and forms will not last as long as some waste remains hazardous. Therefore, waste should be placed in a manner which will facilitate recontainerization and make continued isolation from the environment possible in the future. If the waste is "disposed of" as the NRC currently requires, it will not be isolated from the environment. "Planned leakage will occur at (what NRC considers) an "acceptable" leak rate leading to "acceptable" public radiation exposures and health risks. The allowable leak rates and exposure levels are determined by federal agencies, not those experiencing the risk.To avoid leakage, above-ground, engineered storage at or near the source of generation could allow responsible routine monitoring and repair.STATES' AUTHORITY
States have the right and responsibility to protect their citizens' health. In 1980, Congress gave states the responsibility for "low-level" radioactive waste. How and whether states choose to take on that responsibility will be reflected indefinitely into the future.updated March 1992, Diane D'Arrigo
NIRS Nuclear Information and Resource Service
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Every atomic reactor produces lethal atomic waste as part of its normal operation. Although the volumes of waste can be small, the dangers to people and the environment posed by the waste are enormous. Unfortunately, in New England as across the rest of the globe, no safe, scientifically-defensible solution to the radioactive waste problem has yet been found. It is worth remembering that the atomic age is less than 60 years old, but has produced radioactive elements that will remain hazardous to life for millions of years. Development of a sound nuclear waste policy must proceed carefully and deliberately—a mistake could haunt our planet and our children's children for eons. The best that can be done, for the foreseeable future, is to ensure that this lethal material remains, monitored, retrievable and well-guarded, and that unnecessary transportation is prevented. But the nuclear power industry is attempting to achieve short-sighted, self-serving radioactive waste programs that threaten us all.
In the end, the only truly effective policy for atomic waste is to end its production as soon as possible.
"Low-level" Radioactive Waste"
"Low-level" radioactive waste consists of exactly the same elements as the often more-feared high-level waste, including long-lived isotopes such as Plutonium-239 (hazardous for 240,000 years) and Iodine-129 (hazardous for millions of years) as well as extremely dangerous elements like Cesium-137 and Strontium-90. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission inexplicably encourages shallow land burial—which can be less protective than required in many states for normal garbage dumps—for this lethal material.
"Low-level" waste is of particular concern to all of us. This is because "low-level" waste includes highly radioactive reactor parts such as the pressure vessel (where the reactor fuel sits); steam generators, piping, and most other nuclear reactor components.
Much of the country's "low-level" waste routinely is shipped more than 1,000 miles to Barnwell, South Carolina, site of the nation's largest "low-level" nuclear waste dump. Barnwell is a poor, rural community, 46% African-American. The South Carolina legislature closed Barnwell in the mid-1990s, but re-opened it, with higher fees, in a misguided effort to balance the state's education budget. Chem-Nuclear, operators of the Barnwell dump, has been unable to make its required payments for the state's education fund, but continues to accept more and more waste into its leaking dumpsite.
Vermont and Maine have entered into a "compact" with Texas for "low-level" waste. Under this compact, Vermont and Maine would ship their atomic waste thousands of miles to a proposed dump near the small west Texas town of Sierra Blanca. This area too is rural, low-income, predominately Hispanic, and relatively powerless—the major reasons this site was selected. However, in July 1998, after months of hearings, two Texas Administrative Law Judges recommended that a license for Sierra Blanca site be denied because of earthquake and environmental justice concerns. The U.S. Congress has, at this writing in early August 1998, not yet approved the Texas/Maine/Vermont compact, but appears on the verge of doing so despite the Judges' recommendation.
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