Russia Unveils Detailed Plans To Build 21 New Nuclear Power Units By 2030

[PamW]

92. Where did I say radioactive waste was harmless?

Cleita,

Where did I say radioactive waste is harmless? Radioactive waste CAN cause harm; and that's the reason we don't let radioactive waste loose into the environment.

If you are a supporter of solar panels; you do know that the byproducts from solar panel manufacture consists of a lot of toxic waste ( just like the computer chip business ). Are these byproducts harmless? NOPE - they consist of a bunch of fiendishly toxic crap. So should we abandon solar power because it produces a bunch of toxic crap?

How about instead; we still have solar power; but we keep the toxic crap isolated from the environment. Of course, this toxic crap is stable; so it doesn't decay and it doesn't go away. So by using solar power, we've signed up for isolating this crap from the environment for all eternity.

A similar situation occurs with nuclear power. The radioactive waste is radioactive and therefore can cause harm; so we isolate it from the environment. Just like with the toxic byproducts of solar cell manufacture; we keep that stuff out of the environment so it won't hurt anybody.

However, the nuclear waste has an advantage. It DECAYS. For example, one of the most radioactive constituents of nuclear waste is Iodine-131. You may have heard a lot about I-131. However, Iodine-131 is radioactive with a half-life of 8 days. Iodine-131 radioactively decays into Xenon-131:

I-131 --> Xe-131 + e

The Iodine-131 decays into Xe-131 and a high energy electron which is the beta radiation. As long as the electron is high-energy and moving fast, then it can cause damage, and you have to shield yourself from it.

However, in less than a second, and a total travel of a few feet in air; that electron, because it is charged feels the "drag" force from all the other electrons in the air and it slows down and becomes just an ordinary harmless electron. So the harmful energy of the beta radiation gets DISSIPATED as a little bit of HEAT in the air.

That Xenon-131 atom is also harmless. Xenon is a noble gas; it is INERT. It doesn't take part in any chemical reactions including any chemical reactions that could be harmful to human tissues.

So the byproducts of the radioactive decay are HARMLESS. So all we have to do is wait long enough for the radioactive Iodine-131 to decay into harmless byproducts. The time you need to wait is about 20 half-lives, and since the half-life of Iodine-131 is 8 days; you need to wait about 5 months.

So if you keep your radioactive Iodine-131 isolated from the environment for 5 months; then the byproducts, Xenon-131 and electrons are harmless and can be released to the environment without ill effects. That's different from the toxic waste from solar panels which has to stay isolated since they don't decay.

So for each radioactive material, there is a time to wait until it becomes harmless.

Want to see stuff that USED TO BE radioactive waste? Look around you!! EVERYTHING that you see around you that is not Hydrogen and not Helium was once radioactive!!!

The only "indigenous" elements to the Universe that were created in the Big Bang are Hydrogen and Helium. EVERY other element from Lithium on up was created by the STARS. All the elements up to Iron are the byproducts of nuclear fusion. The elements higher than Iron were created in the thermonuclear explosions of stars going supernova.

When all these elements were created; they were created as RADIOACTIVE species. Then they decayed to the stuff we see around us now. In fact, some of the material hasn't finished decaying yet. You know that bananas are a good source of Potassium which our bodies need. However, a certain fraction of all Potassium is Potassium-40 ( K-40 ). The half-life of K-40 is 9 Billion Years. The Earth is only about 4.5 Billion years old. So the Potassium-40 hasn't had long enough to all decay yet. That's why bananas are slightly radioactive.

As far as Fukushima being hyped, I refer you to an article written by Professor Richard Muller of the Physics Department at University of California - Berkeley. Professor Muller is also the author of the book, "Physics for Future Presidents" and teaches a class for non-science majors on Physics at UC-B. Professor Muller has this to say:

The Panic Over Fukushima

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444772404577589270444059332

Professor Muller points out that the radiation levels in Denver Colorado are THREE TIMES the radiation levels of Fukushima ( with the exception of the immediate vicinity of the reactors ).

The USA allows people to live and work in Denver, Colorado with THREE TIMES the radiation level of Fukushima; while the Japanese government has isolated Fukushima due to the radiation levels.

In 1945, Japan had two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki that were neutron irradiated by the two atomic bombs, and that made those cities radioactive. ( That's where fallout comes from; it's the neutron irradiated "stuff" on the ground that becomes radioactive when exposed to bomb neutrons, and then is flung to the winds. )

However, back in 1945, Japan didn't have the "professional fear mongers" that we have now. The Japanese started rebuilding Hiroshima and Nagasaki a few months following their destruction, and those cities are now viable cities, and have been for over 60 years.

THAT is my EVIDENCE of HYPE!

The good thing about science is that it is true, whether or not you believe in it.
--Neil deGrasse Tyson

PamW