The Price of Energy Consumption - The Renaissance of Renewable Energy - page 201

many of the by-products of uranium fission, including tritium, caesium, krypton, and
iodine, are radioactive, and therefore highly dangerous to plant, animal and human health.
Every 12-18months, nuclear powerplants must shutdownforafewdaysforthe 'spent'
uranium fuel - now radioactive waste - to be replaced. The International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) defines radioactive waste as any material that contains a concentration of
radionuclides greater than those deemed safe by national authorities, and for which no use
is currently available or foreseen. 7 Worldwide nuclear power facilities produce each year
about 200,000 cubic metres of low- and intermediate-level waste and 10,000 cubic metres
of high-level waste. 8
The big difference between nuclear waste and other forms of pollution is not just the
extent of the hazard, but also its life span. Whereas most toxic pollutants are naturally
broken down into harmless compounds in a matter of decades, nuclear materials remain
highlydangerousformanythousandsofyears. 9 Suchtimespans,farlongerthanthehistory
of human civilisation, create a unique challenge for planning and waste management. Not
surprisingly, the IAEA concluded as early as 1989 that “the future of nuclear energy is
dependent onourability to handle and dispose ofradioactive waste in a safe and acceptable
manner” (Larsson 1989 , 25).
Many countries have tried, unsuccessfully, to find permanent sites for nuclear waste.
Yucca Mountain, deep in the Nevada Desert, was chosen in 1987 as the answer to the
United States' nuclear waste problem, but after just twenty-two years and 9 billion dollars,
the project was abandoned (Wald 2009 ). The same fate has met most proposed long-term
disposal projects in the last forty years. Some options such as 'long-term above-ground
storage' have not been implemented, some such as 'ocean disposal' or 'Antarctic ice sheet
disposal' have been banned by international agreements, and some such as 'outer space
disposal', are the stuff of science fiction.
In the absence of permanent solutions, spent fuel is usually stored in steel-reinforced
concrete containers next to the nuclear plants. The issue is sensitive, with a
stratospherically high NIMBY factor. Some scientists argue that, since radioactive waste
held in interim storage gradually decays and becomes easier to deal with, the smartest
solution, at least pending a technological breakthrough, is to do nothing (Wald 2009 ) .
Opponents counter that this throws the precautionary principle out the window, since
radioactive decay takes thousands of years.