G~on,nuclear, environment, waste, clean or toxic, future of human civilization

G-on ... Nuclear Power

Nuclear Power::

Going nuclear is NOT clean energy.

Some would have us believe that Nuclear Power is clean and good for the environment.

But that's not so!

Their claim is that Nuclear power plants do not produce greenhouse gas emissions during operation.

Well, true, but that's because it is not using a carbon based product, neither are the other forms of carbon free power generation, such as, solar, wind, hydro, geo-thermal, wave and tidal.

However, Nuclear power plants do produce toxic radioactive waste during operation.

Nuclear power waste and by products are highly toxic and harmful to human health and the environment, needing thousands of years of supervision, containment and expense, burdening future generations with the responsibility for its safety.

Nuclear (Uraniuum based) is not a renewable source of energy. It is finite.

It is expensive to setup, maintain and manage the waste for thousands of years, imposing a heavy burden on thousands of future generations.
In my opinion, grossly irresponsible.

Whereas, current renewable energy has relatively little effect on the current environment and little if none in the long term. Renewables such as, solar, wind, hydro, geo-thermal, wave, tidal to name just a few, do not produce greenhouse gas emissions during operation.

What are disadvantages of nuclear power?

Expensive Initial Cost to Build. Construction of a new nuclear plant can take anywhere from 5-10 years to build, costing billions of dollars. ...

Risk of Accident. ...

Radioactive Waste. ...

Limited Fuel Supply. ...

Impact on the Environment.

Impact on Human health.

Nuclear power is now seen for what it is: economically and environmentally unviable, making excessive use of water, causing radionuclide pollution, and with indefinite storage needed for waste and these are just the main reasons among many.

A major environmental concern related to nuclear power is the creation of radioactive wastes such as uranium mill tailings, spent (used) reactor fuel, and other radioactive wastes. These materials can remain radioactive and dangerous to human health for thousands of years.

There is controversy over whether nuclear power is sustainable, in part due to concerns around nuclear waste, nuclear weapon proliferation, and accidents. Radioactive nuclear waste must be managed for thousands of years and nuclear power plants create fissile material that can be used for weapons.

Recycling irradiated nuclear fuel is complex and expensive. Spent fuel is intensely radioactive and contains elements covering nearly 50% of the periodic table.
All unit operations must be done remotely through thick shielded walls.

Depleted uranium in the soil will be in an oxidized, soluble chemical form and migrate to surface and groundwater and be incorporated into the food chain.
{{ International Atomic Energy Agency https://www.iaea.org › topics › spent-fuel-management }}

Nuclear Power is an un-necessary long term imposition on the environment and Human health.

Let's face it, everything that humans do, has some sort of impact on the environment. Even when you build your home, you impact the local environment through earth-works for footings, paths, out-buildings, gardens, introduced plants and trees, pets, etc.etc..

What we have to do as a responsible society is minimise the effect we have on the environment.

So let's have a look at some details.

Half-Life:

We often hear discussions mentioning the half-life of radioactive materials which vary widely, for example, if it has a half-life of 10,000 years. why don't they just say it has a life of 20,000 years. Well there is a reason for this. The half-life is the time it takes for the current radioactivity of a particular material to decay to half of its current radioactive state. For example: if the material has a half-life of 10,000 years and we use the current state as 100% then;

Current	100%	start
+ half-life	50%	10,000
+ half-life	25%	10,000
+ half-life	12.5%	10,000
+ half-life	6.25%	10,000
+ half-life	3.125%	10,000
+ half-life	1.5625%	10,000
---------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL		60,000 years
====================================

and so on to reduce the level of radioactivity.

Some nuclei that emit radiation have very long half-lives. Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Since the earth is about 4.6 billion years old, the amount of Uranium-238 that had existed at the time of the earth's birth has now reduced to half.
[ 31 Mar 2019 ] [ env.go.jp https://www.env.go.jp › chemi › rhm › basic-info ]

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Renewables::

A cleaner sustainable alternative

Australian Conservation Foundation Incorporated.
Gavan McFadzean, ACF
climate action in Australia.

Renewable energy like wind and solar has never been stronger. Here are 4 reasons why:

1. Renewables provided a record 46% of Australia’s electricity in the final three months of 2024. This is set to grow to 82% in the next 5 years, which we desperately need. Coal is on the way out and the fantasy of a nuclear reactor wouldn’t be ready until 2040 at the earliest.

2. 4 million Australian homes have rooftop solar and counting – that's 37% of all homes. This is projected to increase to 5 million homes around the time of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

3. Renewables are Australia’s most affordable source of new energy. While coal and gas companies keep raising their prices and our energy bills, renewables continue to become more affordable. The CSIRO has confirmed nuclear would cost twice as much as renewables.

4. Rooftop solar and renewables backed with big batteries are making Australia’s energy more reliable. Meanwhile, Australia’s ageing coal plants keep breaking down causing more blackouts, especially during heat waves.

With so many reasons to love wind and solar, we all must tell candidates and parties across the political spectrum to stay the course on renewables – don't delay climate action.

Here are three more facts that'll get you excited about renewables here in Australia:

1. On November 18 last year {2024}, all of South Australia's power (100%+) came from rooftop solar – with some left over!
2. Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia have among the highest proportion of solar households of any state.
3. Over the last decade, the cost of solar has dropped 90% and the cost of wind has dropped by more than 60%.
Australia’s renewable energy future is well underway – our elected representatives must stay the course.

www.acf.org.au

Let's create a safe future powered by clean renewable energy!

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More - Q & A:

How many years of uranium is left?
About 90 years
Thus the world's present measured resources of uranium (5.7 Mt) in the cost category above present spot prices and used only in conventional reactors, are enough to last about 90 years. This represents a higher level of assured resources than is normal for most minerals.
[ 16 May 2024 ]

Reprocessing spent fuel is a complicated and expensive process, but a major concern regards the risk of nuclear proliferation. For spent fuel to be recycled, it first needs to be transported. This could be across state lines or, in the example of Japan's agreement with France, it could be international. [ 21 Feb 2024 ]

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Why doesn't America recycle nuclear waste?
The primary reason most nuclear operators do not recycle their waste is that recycling irradiated nuclear fuel is complex and expensive. Spent fuel is intensely radioactive and contains elements covering nearly 50% of the periodic table.
All unit operations must be done remotely through thick shielded walls.

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What does depleted uranium do to the soil?
Depleted uranium in the soil will be in an oxidized, soluble chemical form and migrate to surface and groundwater and be incorporated into the food chain. It is difficult to predict how long it would take for this to occur.
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Do they still dump nuclear waste in the ocean?
And across the world even today, low-level radioactive waste is still being released into the ocean by nuclear power plants and decommissioned plants such as the one in Fukushima, Japan. [ 21 Feb 2024 ]

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Health Issues::

What happens if you touch depleted uranium (DU)?
The two primary health concerns related to DU exposure are radiation and heavy metal toxicity.
Radiation - since DU is less radioactive than naturally occurring uranium, this should not be a significant source of concern.
Heavy metal toxicity - The first organs of concern are the kidneys.
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Is depleted uranium safe to eat?
Ingesting or inhaling quantities of uranium - even depleted uranium - is dangerous: it can depress renal function and raises the risk of developing a range of cancers.
[ 7 Sept 2023 ]
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Waste Issues::

Nuclear energy produces radioactive waste.
A major environmental concern related to nuclear power is the creation of radioactive wastes such as uranium mill tailings, spent (used) reactor fuel, and other radioactive wastes. These materials can remain radioactive and dangerous to human health for thousands of years.

What is the by product of nuclear?
High-Level Waste (HLW) is the direct byproduct of operating nuclear power plants. It includes the used fuel rods or wastes from reprocessing them. Unlike other levels of waste, HLW emits decay heat that requires cooling in its handling. While its volume only takes up 3%, it accounts for over 95% of radioactivity. [ 9 Mar 2017 ]

HLW arises from the 'burning' of uranium fuel in a nuclear reactor. HLW contains the fission products and transuranic elements generated in the reactor core. HLW accounts for just 3% of the volume, but 95% of the total radioactivity of produced waste. [ 25 Jan 2022 ]

Certain high-level mixed waste must be vitrified—a process in which the waste is immobilized in glass—and disposed of in a deep geologic repository.

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FAQ::

1 Is depleted uranium still radioactive? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

2 What is a byproduct of nuclear energy? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

3 What are the products of nuclear? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

4 What are the byproducts of uranium? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

5 What are the byproducts of nuclear fuel? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

6 What do we do with nuclear waste? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

7 Where does nuclear waste go? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

8 What is the largest waste product of nuclear power production? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

9 Why can't nuclear waste be reused? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

10 How long does it take for nuclear waste to decay? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

11 How many years of uranium is left? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

12 Why doesn't America recycle nuclear waste? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

13 Do they still dump nuclear waste in the ocean? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

14 What happens to uranium after 4.5 billion years? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

15 Do nuclear power plants pollute? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

16 What happens to buried nuclear waste? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

17 What does depleted uranium do to the soil? . . . . . . . . Show/Hide

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Footnote:

In this article I have shown the sources for my research into the various aspects of the subject and have listed the source with the subject.
The sources are from respected world and government authorities, universities, industry research documents, science journals and the like.