Disposal of

Nuclear Wastes

Mrs. Sehgal

Evander Childs High School

Dangerous wastes from these facilities…

.

Need Site for Safe Disposal

Nuclear energy, energy from the nucleus of radioactive atoms, is being used for several purposes by various industries such as

Nuclear power plant (to produce electricity, first one was built in 1957 in the US),

Nuclear Weapon industry

Medicine and

Research Facility.

The main problem all of these industries are facing at present is, to be able to find an appropriate and safe site to dispose off their nuclear waste, also called radioactive waste which has been accumulating since past forty years. They have been storing it temporarily at their facilities. 30 tons/year is being produced at each of the 104 power plants in US, total amount from all of these industries has reached an amazing, unbelievable amount, about millions of tons waiting for disposal. They have been classified as Low level which stays dangerous for about 300 years and the high level waste that stays for tens of thousands of years.

The waste generated at these facilities is much different than the regular or the toxic waste produced elsewhere which can be either put in the landfills or incinerated or recycled. None of these are the options for disposing off the radioactive wastes. The reason being they emit very dangerous radiations and remains so far thousands of years; it poses problems not only for the present generation but for future generations as well. The radiations can cause skin burns, cancer or mutations of genes or other health problems or even death.

We therefore have to be very careful in dealing with this important social issue. .

When, where and how to dispose it is a difficult environmental dilemma

Department of Energy(DOE) and other Research Scientists have been studying several options as given in the following website

Such as Ocean dumping and Land burial. Space dumping is also being considered.

The various criteria are taken into account such as geological disturbances (volcanic activity, earth quake, etc), the depth of ground water, isolated area and containers to be used for packaging- should be very strong and stable for thousands of years without any leakage of radiations.

Two sites have been chosen. One in Mexico called WIPP-Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, Carlsbad

It is planned that some 850,000 drums (containers) will be stored in the US$1.8-billion pilot plant. It has already started receiving shipment.

Other one is in Nevada in the Yucca Mountain.

This is the aerial view of the site for disposing the hazardous waste, to be buried deep underground. It is considered to be geologically safe and safe from intrusion of ground water.

• .

You are one of the very well known Public Policy Analyst and a scientist, so have been appointed as a representative of your community by the Environmental Protection Agency to discuss about the benefits and drawbacks of these sites. Give your opinion about solving this problem. Being given a responsible position, you have to be well educated as to know all the alternatives available, read the resources for important information and start your important task as a group. Good Luck..

Working in a group of 3, your task consists of two main parts:

A WRITTEN PAPER

Submit a typed paper about 3-5 pages long. It must have a cover page showing the Title, Date, Teacher’s name and the names of all the Group members. You must include bibliography at the end. You have to follow the Public Policy Analyst Model (PPA) to complete your paper; the steps of this model are given below. You will the information gathered by following these steps to complete the task.

1-Define the problem

2-Gather Evidence of the Problem

3-Identify the causes of the problem

4-Evaluate the existing Policy

5-Develop Public Policy Solution

6 Selecting the Best Policy after analyzing Benefits and Risks

A Power Point PRESENTATION

You may also make a power point presentation using at least one slide for each of the work sheets and submit the floppy disk.

AN ORAL PRESENTATION

You will be given 5-7 min of time for oral presentation in front of the class about your findings on this topic. All the members of the group should be able to answer questions about your findings.

1. Each member of your group must be assigned a job for appropriately completing your project. In order for you to understand the problem, read the four Hyperlinks listed in the resources section of this TIPS Web Quest. Each member may read one (or two) of these and discuss with each other, noting down the important points of your interest. You may also read more references as you work on your paper if you need extra information about the topic.

2. There are 6 work sheets, one for each of the 6 steps of PPA model. You will need these worksheets in order to complete your written report.

Find these at the end of each of the following PPA hyperlinks. Read these carefully. To get to the first worksheet click on the hyperlink, “Define the Problem”, you will see a yellow screen with some information, read this part, you may click on the “See the example” given to help you in completing your worksheet. You will see two work sheets for each step, but you can type your answers only on one of them (MSWORD), click on it and answer the questions 1-4.

1-Define the problem

2-Gather Evidence of the Problem

3-Identify the causes of the problem

4-Evaluate the Existing Policy

5-Develop Public Policy Solution

6-Selecting the Best Policy after analyzing Benefits and Risks

3. Follow the same steps to complete other 5 worksheets. For every worksheet there is an example given to help you complete it for your problem. You will use your worksheets to complete the task. These are your research tools. Be sure to access the web sites given in the resource section. You may use text material and journal articles as well.

4. Now, you may start typing your paper making sure to follow the proper steps using your worksheets and other resources listed below. The completed report should answer the following questions.

A) What is the main problem faced by an industry using nuclear energy? (Worksheet 1)

B) Show the Proof that it exists and the reasons that contributed to its existence (Worksheets 2 and 3)

C) List various options available for the disposal of such radioactive wastes.

D) Discuss the benefits and risks involved with these options. (Worksheet 4)

E) Evaluate the options for their Effectiveness and Feasibility (worksheet 6)

F) Can your policy be easily enacted by the Govt. agencies? Will it be safer for the present community as well as for future generations? (Worksheet 5)

Use the following websites to help you research your paper:

www.goggle.com

www.yahoo.com

(These two can be used as search engines to look for various sites)

http://www.wipp.ws/

( WIPP site)

www.chemtechwaste.com

http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/nuclear.asp

www.nwtrb.gov/

http://www.nuc.umr.edu/~ans/QA.html

(This site explains the need for nuclear energy, its uses and risks compared to other sources, waste disposal, cost analysis etc.)

http://www.history.rochester.edu/class/EZRA/

(This paper gives the location and statistics of total KWhrs of energy produced by Nuclear Power Plants in various states including

the 3 in NY)

http://www.nei.org/index.asp?catnum=1&catid=14 Gives a very good description about nuclear energy, including the public policy issues. Federal legislation mandates a centralized geologic repository. The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 and its 1987 amendments require or authorize the U.S. Department of Energy to locate, build and operate a deep, mined geologic repository for high-level waste;

1. locate, build and operate a "monitored retrievable storage" facility;

2. Develop a transportation system that safely links U.S. nuclear power plants, the interim storage facility, and the permanent repository.

To accomplish this, the Act established the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management within DOE, headed by a presidential appointee.

http://www.llwforum.org/

(It describes the Low-level Waste management).

http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0017.shtml

(It discusses the options that could be used)

Books----à

Environment Science by Holt (pages. 283-286) and the Handout on Issues and Policy

Chemistry in the community—Chemcom—American Chemical Society

(Pages-477-480)

Your project will be graded based on several criteria as described below.

Criteria

Points

	Unsatisfactory Less than 65	Satisfactory 70-80	Good 80-90	Excellent 90-100
Organization	Audience cannot understand presentation because there is no sequence of information.	Audience has difficulty following presentation because student jumps around.	Student presents information in logical sequence which audience can follow.	Student presents information in logical, interesting sequence which can be easily understood.
Content Knowledge	Student does not have grasp of information; student cannot answer questions about subject.	Student is uncomfortable with information and is able to answer only rudimentary questions.	Student is at ease with content, but fails to elaborate.	Student demonstrates full knowledge (more than required)with explanations and elaboration.
Visuals	Student used no visuals.	Student occasional used visuals that rarely support text and presentation.	Visuals related to text and presentation.	Student used visuals to reinforce screen text and presentation.
Mechanics	Student's presentation had four or more spelling errors and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation had three misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no more than two misspellings and/or grammatical errors.	Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors.
Delivery	Student mumbles, incorrectly pronounces terms, and speaks too quietly for students in the back of class to hear.	Student incorrectly pronounces terms. Audience members have difficulty hearing presentation.	Student's voice is clear. Student pronounces most words correctly.	Student used a clear voice and correct, precise pronunciation of terms.

New York State Performance Standards: 

Science 

S5 Scientific Thinking

S5c Uses evidence from reliable sources to develop descriptions and explanations.

S5d Proposes, recognizes, and analyzes,

S5e Identifies problems; proposes and implements solutions;.

S5f Works individually and in teams to collect and share information and ideas.

S6 Scientific Tools and Technologies

6b Records and stores data using a variety of formats.

S6 Acquires information from multiple sources.

S7 Scientific Communication

S7d explains a scientific concept or procedure to other students.

S7e Communicates in a form suited to the purpose and the audience.

E English Language Arts

E1c: Read and comprehend informational materials.

E2a: Produce a report of information.

E3c: Prepare and deliver an individual presentation

Using this WebQuest, you should have been able to learn the present disposal crisis facing the world and the various options that are being suggested as safe ways to be used. Also, you should have learned to use the websites to get the information for any research topic. You should now be familiar with different steps of the Public Policy Analyst for solving problems.