Different Perspectives on Nuclear Waste

In a recent Wired article titled Nuclear Power is too Safe to Save the World from Climate Change, Nick Stockton discusses the dangers and costs associated with nuclear power, as well as the relevance new reactor the is set to go online this year. The reactor that will go online later this year is called Watts Barr Unit 2, and most of it was constructed at the same time as Watts Bar Unit 1 during the 70s and 80s. A major issue tied to nuclear power is nuclear waste. There are many different perspectives concerning nuclear waste, but this post will focus on the engineering and anthropological viewpoints. By examining articles from both perspective, conclusions can be drawn about the different approaches of these two disciplines.

The article Turning Nuclear Waste into Glass by Ian Pegg begins by providing background on nuclear waste remaining from the cold war and that left over from commercial power plants. The main part of the article Discusses the process of vitrification and dealing with the waste stored at the Hanford Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (Hanford WTP). Vitrification is the process of containing nuclear waste in glass. The author finishes the article by summarizing the costs of treating the waste at the Hanford WTP and the challenges that the plant has faced. This article provides a viewpoint focused on the engineering of dealing with nuclear waste and provides information about issues in treating existing nuclear waste.

The next article that looks at nuclear waste from an engineering perspective is titled A Multiphysics Model for Evaluating Electrokinetic Remediation of Nuclear Waste-Contaminated Soils. It describes the process of coming up with an accurate model for electrokinetic soil remediation and backs up this model with experimental data. Electrokinetic soil remediation is the process of using DC current to clean up soil that has been contaminated with nuclear waste. This model can predict the amount of radioactive material that will remain in a soil sample after applying different levels of DC current for different times. The article compares the effectiveness of using higher or lower current. Like the first article, this article presents a model on an engineering solution to dealing with nuclear waste.

The article, Plasma Filtering Techniques for Nuclear Waste Remediation begins by discussing nuclear waste left over from the cold war and the glass vitrification process used at the Hanford WTP, similar to the first article. It then discusses how plasma filtering techniques could be used for pretreatment processes of radioactive waste. The plasma filtering techniques discussed separate different components of radioactive waste based on their mass. Using plasma filtering as a pretreatment reduces the mass of the treated waste, lowering storage costs. This article provides another method for nuclear waste remediation, and it again approaches the issue from an engineering perspective.

All three of these article focus on discussing a method of cleaning up nuclear waste. Two of the discuss the Hanford WTP specifically and the problems associated with it. The article on plasma filtering compares plasma filtering to the chemical separation process that was also discussed in the glass vitrification article. While the glass vitrification article focuses on the vitrification process, the plasma filtering article focuses on the process of separating the waste. The electrokinetic soil remediation article focuses on the remediation required for contaminated soils, while the other two are concerned with the waste that has been stored in containers.

Danger Explodes, Space Implodes: The evolution of the environmental discourse on nuclear waste, 1945-1969 addresses the issue of nuclear waste from an anthropological perspective. It explores how public views of nuclear waste changed over time. The main point it makes is that “as waste grew ever more harmful in the public understanding, the space available for disposing of it shrank and eventually disappeared.” by examining news articles from 1945 to 1969 it analyzes how public perception of nuclear waste has changed over time. This article provides an anthropological look at the issue of nuclear waste, focusing on how it is perceived and what the impacts of this are.

The article Back to the Future: Small Modular Reactors, Nuclear Fantasies, and Symbolic Convergence argues that scientists and others in the nuclear industry are building support for small nuclear reactors through presenting five different “nuclear fantasies,” or visions for the future. These visions include risk-free energy, empowering remote communities, water security from desalination plants, carbon-free electricity, and space exploration. It then discusses each of these five visions, and how they seem to contradict each other. A key point that the author makes in discussing the faults of these visions is how nuclear waste is dealt with. The anthropological viewpoint of nuclear waste presented in this article discusses how scientists are seeking to improve the public's view of nuclear power, and combat the negative views that are related to nuclear waste.

A Longitudinal Study of Human Exposure to Potential Nuclear Plant Risk looks at the sociodemographics of communities that are at potentially at risk from nearby nuclear power plants. It quantifies different risk levels to make accurate comparisons, and the communities living in areas with higher potential risk included more minorities. This is another article that looks at nuclear waste from an anthropological perspective by observing the risk posed to different sociodemographic groups.

While the articles with an engineering viewpoint focused on different solutions for treating nuclear waste, those with an anthropology perspective focused on how people impact and are impacted by the issue. The article on environmental discourse on nuclear waste focuses on how nuclear waste is seen by the public. The article about nuclear fantasies continues to discuss how nuclear waste is perceived, but shifts towards how this perception is being influenced, and what the implications of this influence are. The final article is not concerned with how nuclear waste is seen, but how it affects different populations, and which populations are more at risk.

Both the Engineering and Anthropology perspectives agree that nuclear waste is a problem that needs to be discussed and dealt with. The anthropology perspective discusses the public perception of the issue, and the engineering discipline recognizes the problems associated with this too, but it focuses on finding solutions to improve the way we deal with nuclear waste. In the article about nuclear fantasies, the author criticizes how scientists are trying to change how the public views nuclear power, claiming that they are spreading an unrealistic vision for it. These two disciplines approach the issue of nuclear waste differently, while the engineering viewpoint is more concerned with improving how nuclear waste is treated, the anthropology viewpoint is concerned with how it impacts people, and what this means for nuclear power.




Sources:

Nuclear power is too Safe to Save the World From Climate Change: http://www.wired.com/2016/04/nuclear-power-safe-save-world-climate-change/

Turning Nuclear Waste into Glass: http://web.a.ebscohost.com.prox.lib.ncsu.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=23af17bd-555f-4969-96d0-9c2898d9940e%40sessionmgr4005&vid=0&hid=4114&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl&preview=false#AN=100810874&db=ulh

A Multiphysics Model for Evaluating Electrokinetic Remediation of Nuclear Waste-Contaminated Soils: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11270-014-2292-3/fulltext.html

Plasma Filtering Techniques for Nuclear Waste Remediation: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389415003568

Danger Explodes, Space Implodes: The evolution of the environmental discourse on nuclear waste, 1945-1969: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186%2Fs13705-015-0064-6

Back to the Future: Small Modular Reactors, Nuclear Fantasies, and Symbolic Convergence: http://sth.sagepub.com/content/40/1/96.full.pdf+html

A Longitudinal Study of Human Exposure to Potential Nuclear Plant Risk: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13753-015-0075-0