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High-level waste is the highly radioactive waste material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations; and other highly radioactive material that is determined, consistent with existing law, to require permanent ...
The Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 established a timetable and procedure for constructing a permanent, underground repository for high-level radioactive waste by the mid-1990s, and provided for some temporary storage of waste, including spent fuel from 104 civilian nuclear reactors that produce about 19.4% of electricity there. [39]
High-level waste is full of highly radioactive fission products, most of which are relatively short-lived. This is a concern since if the waste is stored, perhaps in deep geological storage, over many years the fission products decay, decreasing the radioactivity of the waste and making the plutonium easier to access.
High-level waste will be processed and vitrified later in a separate process. [3] The Hanford Site is currently storing 56 million gallons of radioactive waste in aging underground tanks, legacy waste from plutonium production efforts during World War II and the Cold War. The majority of the waste in the tanks is low-activity waste liquids. [4]
An infographic about the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Spent nuclear fuel is the radioactive by-product of electricity generation at commercial nuclear power plants, and high-level radioactive waste is the by-product of reprocessing spent fuel to produce fissile material for nuclear weapons. [19]
The US currently defines five types of radioactive waste, as shown below. High-level Waste: This type of radioactive waste is generated from nuclear reactors or reprocessing spent nuclear fuel. [15] Transuranic Waste: This type of radioactive waste is man-made and has an atomic number of 92 or higher. [15]
The Nuclear Waste Policy of 1982 states the federal government's responsibility is to provide a permanent disposal facility for high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. If states have also agreed to follow §274 of the Atomic Energy Act they may take on the responsibility of disposing of low-level waste and receive facilities from ...
Pages for logged out editors learn more. Contributions; Talk; High-level nuclear waste