WEBVTT - The Problem With Nuclear Waste 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:07.200 Brought to you by Toyota. Let's go places. Welcome to 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:14.720 Forward Thinking. Stay there, and welcome to Forward Thinking, the 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:17.200 podcast that looks at the future and says, I'm fixing 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.120 a hole where the rain gets in. I'm Jonathan Strickland 0:00:21.040 --> 0:00:24.159 and I'm Joe McCormick. So you know, we talked a 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:28.479 lot on this show about meeting our energy needs in 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.840 various ways. We've talked about renewable energy. We've talked about 0:00:32.360 --> 0:00:37.279 alternatives to using petroleum based energy. We've talked about our 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:41.479 old friend Cole, Yeah, we have. We've talked about fusion 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.400 as a potential future energy source, should we ever really 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:50.400 solve that problem there there are some promising scientific experiments 0:00:50.440 --> 0:00:53.400 that could lead to fusion one day being a real contender, 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:55.800 but for now it's still very much in that sort 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:59.800 of theoretical and and and experimental stage. But Jonathan, what's 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:04.319 the opposite of fusion? Well, let's see, there's you mean, 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:07.480 like jazz fusion. I'd say punk really is kind of 0:01:07.520 --> 0:01:11.880 the opposite of fusion. I don't know about that. The 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:18.199 opposite of fusion is probably like country western music. That's 0:01:17.959 --> 0:01:22.080 that's a fusion of country and western Okay, guys, I 0:01:22.080 --> 0:01:23.880 think we're getting off topic. I think I think, well, 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:28.199 I think what you what you meant was vision, right, vision, 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.959 So it's a fusing, fusing two things to become a 0:01:31.000 --> 0:01:33.760 new one thing. You're taking one thing and splitting it 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.200 up into two things. Although I think that that another 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.520 episode in the future about the future of musical fusion. Yeah, 0:01:41.880 --> 0:01:45.240 then have our discussion about jazz fusion and country Western music. No, today, 0:01:45.280 --> 0:01:48.880 we're going to talk about vision. Nuclear fission, the standard, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.120 regular old vision, which is great because we already know 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.360 how to do it. It works today. Yeah, in fact, 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:58.000 we don't even have to be around for it to happen. 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:00.680 But all so, why are we talking about it if 0:02:00.720 --> 0:02:04.720 it already works today? Specifically, because while nuclear power is 0:02:04.760 --> 0:02:07.840 certainly something we can tap into, it comes with a 0:02:07.920 --> 0:02:12.760 pretty big drawback. Yeah. So nuclear power has no direct 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.119 carbon emissions, it's very productive, it's very powerful, and it's 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.120 ready to go today. These are all really really great 0:02:20.240 --> 0:02:24.240 things about nuclear power. So really, why would anybody be 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:29.120 opposed to nuclear power? There's essentially one main reason. Yeah, 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:32.639 the stuff that's left over after you have created your 0:02:32.760 --> 0:02:37.040 nuclear reactions to heat up water to turn turbines. Because Remember, ultimately, 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:39.520 that's what we're talking about, is that the nuclear power 0:02:39.919 --> 0:02:44.080 is just used to generate it of generating heat, generate 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:47.520 turbine spinning. Yeah, you're just making steam, is all you're 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:50.120 really doing the same sort of thing is with steam engines. 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:52.639 Is just now you're you've souped it up. Well. Yeah, 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.320 And the problem here actually isn't always just what's left behind, 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:58.840 but the fuel in general. It's people tend to have 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.640 a problem with because, as it turns out, radioactive stuff, 0:03:01.680 --> 0:03:04.080 in addition to creating a lot of steam very efficiently, 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:08.040 is not safe. Yeah, it's not good, not good for things? 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:11.760 What are living? Juggle it? No, do not play with 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:14.040 a super happy fun ball. No, do not do not 0:03:14.120 --> 0:03:17.239 look No. So this is the problem we're going to 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:19.800 talk about today. Actually over the next two podcasts. This 0:03:19.840 --> 0:03:21.919 is going to be a two parter. Today is part 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:24.600 one where we're going to talk about what's the problem 0:03:24.639 --> 0:03:28.720 with nuclear waste because it is very much a future problem, 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:31.880 and then on the next podcast we're going to talk 0:03:31.919 --> 0:03:34.720 about proposed solutions what what are you going to do 0:03:34.800 --> 0:03:37.640 about it? Today, we decided to just devote this to 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:40.920 talking about what the problem is and sort of looking 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:44.560 at what it means for us. So what is radioactive 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:48.160 waste and how is it produced? And are are there 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:52.320 different kinds of radioactive waste? They are absolutely different kinds 0:03:52.440 --> 0:03:56.800 of radioactive waste. So now we're talking about radioactive stuff. 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:02.240 This is stuff that specifically ionizing creation, stuff that is uh, 0:04:02.280 --> 0:04:07.520 potentially harmful because it can cause electrons to fly off 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:11.280 of ados and eventually cause things like mutations and other issues. 0:04:11.280 --> 0:04:13.400 Will go into more about that in a little bit, 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:18.719 but specifically, the type that most people are absolutely terrified 0:04:18.760 --> 0:04:24.440 of is called high level waste, which can sometimes also 0:04:25.400 --> 0:04:29.600 include spent nuclear fuel, although generally speaking they people tend 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:32.600 to separate the two as two separate things. But they 0:04:32.640 --> 0:04:36.200 both are extremely dangerous, all right. The spent fuel is 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:41.119 possibly even more dangerous, but yeah, it's it's but neither 0:04:41.200 --> 0:04:44.200 of them, again are things you want to juggle, right, So, 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:46.960 spent nuclear fuel is exactly what it sounds like. It's 0:04:47.000 --> 0:04:50.360 it's when you have used these nuclear rods or you know, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.520 whatever format the nuclear fuel has come into, Uh, it 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:57.440 has lost enough of its reactive nature, so there's no 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:01.080 longer as efficiently heating up water to super high temperatures. 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:05.120 So you need to replace it with new fuel. Uh, 0:05:05.200 --> 0:05:08.640 that's spent nuclear fuel is pretty dangerous. Now, some countries 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:13.160 will end up trying to reprocess that spent nuclear fuel 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:17.160 to recapture some of the uranium and plutonium that's in it, because, 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:20.160 as it turns out, there's quite a bit of unused 0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:24.080 or unburnt fuel in those fuel rods. Uh. We're talking 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:30.159 around of the fuel being unused. So the processing, the 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:34.400 reprocessing of this ends up creating a mixture of uranium 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.200 and plutonium. And then you have this leftover stuff. About 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:39.839 three percent of it is completely left over that you 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:43.640 can't do anything with. It's called high level waste. Uh. 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:47.400 And while it only makes up three percent of of 0:05:47.480 --> 0:05:51.400 the actual volume of stuff, it makes up of the 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:55.680 radioactivity of the nuclear waste that we generally talk about, 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:57.520 like what are we going to do with this stuff? 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.719 So this is the really super dangerous stuff. So what 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.159 are the attributes of this this high level ways store 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.520 spent nuclear fuel? If you're going to group them together, 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:09.720 or we'll just today group them together because they're both 0:06:09.760 --> 0:06:14.080 there's the same sort of problem. Uh. They're both very 0:06:14.200 --> 0:06:19.080 radioactive and very hot, and we produce a kind of 0:06:19.200 --> 0:06:22.440 significant amount of it when you combine all of our 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.920 nuclear facilities together, right especially we're mainly going to be 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.600 talking about the United States in these podcasts, but keep 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.560 in mind that, of course, the United States is not 0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:33.120 the only country using nuclear power. There are a lot 0:06:33.160 --> 0:06:35.400 of countries that do. And all of the countries have 0:06:35.560 --> 0:06:38.120 to consider what are they going to do with this 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:42.279 nuclear waste once once it starts to accumulate, what do 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.640 you do with it? Now? For the most part, the 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:48.920 first thing we do is we end up using water 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:52.440 to help shield, well, one to cool it and two 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:55.040 to shield us from the radioactivity water. As it turns out, 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:56.800 it's a really good shield if you have a lot 0:06:56.839 --> 0:07:00.320 of it. So it turns out that removing high level 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:04.359 waste from uh spent nuclear fuel usually you have to 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:07.640 do it underwater, and then you store it in a 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.520 pool of water. And you're talking about for spent nuclear fuel, 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.080 you would want to store it in water for about 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:16.480 fifty years before you do anything else with it. Yeah. 0:07:16.480 --> 0:07:18.720 The high level waste can be stored for as little 0:07:18.760 --> 0:07:23.080 as only five yeah, and then put into dry cask containers. 0:07:23.480 --> 0:07:25.680 Usually the pools of water also contain some kind of 0:07:25.680 --> 0:07:30.320 shielding material like boron that will help help absorb any 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:34.240 free right, any any free particles that are emitted through this, 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.000 because keep in mind the nuclear reactions we're talking about 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.760 the reason why this is a good fuel source is 0:07:40.800 --> 0:07:43.560 the fact that once you start a reaction, it helps 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.040 sustain itself, right. It gives off the particles that continue 0:07:47.120 --> 0:07:51.600 to allow the unspent fuel to then react. It becomes 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:53.320 a chain reaction. And in fact, if you do not 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:56.920 control this chain reaction, that's when you go into something 0:07:56.960 --> 0:08:01.000 like a nuclear meltdown, which we have all pretty much 0:08:01.040 --> 0:08:03.960 agreed is what we would call a bad thing. Yes, 0:08:04.200 --> 0:08:06.440 so I'm good, um, but yeah, So after five years, 0:08:06.480 --> 0:08:09.440 you can take the high level wastes and store them 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.760 in these dry ventilated steel containers that are filled with 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:16.080 inert gases something like helium um and then you can 0:08:16.080 --> 0:08:20.760 place those in concrete containers. That's called your your dry containment. 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:27.080 And uh, Ultimately, the idea that that most people came 0:08:27.360 --> 0:08:31.920 into agreement on several decades ago was that you would 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.960 move the stuff to a geological repository, which essentially means 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.360 a really deep hole in the ground where it would 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.880 be safe from everything else. But we'll have more to 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.040 say about that a little bit later, and just for 0:08:43.080 --> 0:08:45.160 the record, as of two thousand nine, each one of 0:08:45.200 --> 0:08:50.000 these dry casks cost about a million bucks to create. Yeah, 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:52.680 so that's that's your high level waste. That's that's just 0:08:52.840 --> 0:08:55.120 one of several types of waste that we haven't even 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:57.719 covered the other types yet we're about too. So keep 0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.199 in mind that that high level waste, that's the main 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.600 thing people are worried about it. It is very radioactive, 0:09:03.840 --> 0:09:05.880 very dangerous. You don't want to get near it. But 0:09:06.400 --> 0:09:09.760 it's only about three percent of the volume of the 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:13.320 total waste we create. So there's a there's a much 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:17.640 larger group of things we create that are somewhat radioactive, 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:20.880 the lower level waste. You've got intermediate level waste and 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:25.280 low level waste. And this comes from the fact that radioactivity, 0:09:25.600 --> 0:09:29.200 uh you might say is sort of like cooties on 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:32.800 the playground Dead. You certainly have said that, because it 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:35.839 says it in the notes. So you take a very 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:40.080 radioactive object like some plutonium core, okay, and then you 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:45.040 expose that to a second object to just imagine it is, 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.800 I don't know, a T shirt, okay. So that second 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:54.560 object can then actually become dangerous in itself, even after 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:59.000 you've removed it from the plutonium core. Why is that, Well, 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:00.880 there are a couple of reasons. I think the main 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:05.920 one is that tiny radioactive particles or radioactive dust can 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:11.440 attach itself to this second object. So then, yeah, you 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:14.240 might have particles that are so small you can't see them, 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.280 but these particles are radioactive and they're still capable of 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:23.240 shooting out these uh, these tiny you know, ionizing radiations 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.160 that can do major damage to you. The other thing 0:10:26.280 --> 0:10:30.800 is that some types of objects, when they're bombarded with radioactivity, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:35.080 can become radioactive themselves, Like so some of the atoms 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:38.720 within them will change to radioactive isotopes that can then 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.520 turn around and start giving off their own radiation, and 0:10:41.840 --> 0:10:44.800 that's bad news. Also, though I think that's less often 0:10:44.840 --> 0:10:47.320 a concern than the previous The main one you're talking 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:51.520 about is these radioactive particles that dust. So these secondary 0:10:51.559 --> 0:10:53.960 objects like this make up these lower level waste, this 0:10:54.080 --> 0:10:57.560 intermediate waste, low level wasts that represent the majority of 0:10:57.600 --> 0:11:00.880 what's produced by nuclear power generation. And these waste products 0:11:00.920 --> 0:11:04.040 can include all kinds of stuff, from like old parts 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:07.520 of the reactor or of the cooling assembly, to tools 0:11:07.720 --> 0:11:12.960 or protective clothes and shieldings, masks, gloves, all kinds of 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.760 stuff that's been around other things that are radioactive. Yeah, 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.640 general rule of thumb is the longer it's been in 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:22.520 contact with the radioactive source, the more likely it's going 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.240 to be an intermediary level waste rather than a low 0:11:25.320 --> 0:11:28.920 level waist. Whereas things that have had limited contact tend 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:31.080 to fall into the low level waist. That's just a 0:11:31.160 --> 0:11:33.840 general rule of thumb. It doesn't necessarily apply in every case, 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:37.679 but something like say a filter would be intermediary because 0:11:37.679 --> 0:11:41.439 it had more consistent contact with the source of radiation, 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.760 whereas a suit that was worn by someone who had 0:11:45.800 --> 0:11:49.400 to do some maintenance within an area that had some 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:53.000 radioactivity might be considered low level because while it had exposure, 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:56.079 it was it was only on one occasion and it 0:11:56.160 --> 0:12:00.960 was limited. But you still have to classify its waste. 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:03.120 That needs to be dealt with in a particular way, 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:05.240 right because at a certain point, if you expose that 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:08.040 T shirt to another T shirt, you've got another radioactive 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:10.040 T shirt and then and eventually that's going to get 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.440 exposed to somebody. Radioactive T shirts all the way down, 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.640 probably through a T shirt cannon of some sort. Yeah, 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.520 it's it's oh no, yeah, bring bring some pre show 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:24.200 discussion into the show. That's what I'm doing right now, folks. Um. 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:27.800 But that's actually not all, folks. There are other kinds 0:12:27.920 --> 0:12:32.760 of radioactive byproducts of this entire nuclear energy equation. You've 0:12:32.800 --> 0:12:37.280 also got basic stuff that was created when the raw 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:40.640 nuclear materials were taken out of the ground. For example, 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:44.640 uranium mill tailings, which is a sand like byproduct of 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:48.760 mining uranium. It can contain flex of radium, uranium, thorium, 0:12:48.800 --> 0:12:51.480 and lots of other hazardous stuff and UH and and 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.200 like all of this other waste, it can contaminate the 0:12:54.240 --> 0:12:58.120 local air, water, or nearby objects. It produces gamma radiation, 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.200 and you know, generally it really does take some care 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:04.600 and concern to be disposed of properly. But we'll talk 0:13:04.679 --> 0:13:07.480 more about that disposal process a little bit later, right. 0:13:07.559 --> 0:13:09.800 And one other type I want to mention, which is 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:15.120 really only recognized by the United States is transuranic or 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:20.680 transuranic waste, which is essentially waste that involves UH elements 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.839 with atomic numbers higher than uranium. It's usually produced as 0:13:23.840 --> 0:13:28.320 a byproduct of UH nuclear weapons research or laboratory research. 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.960 It can also come from nuclear power. We're talking mostly 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:36.240 about man made elements at this point, but that's another 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:40.520 type of nuclear waste that doesn't easily fall into these 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:45.320 other categories. Seems like the right. Certainly, if there's some 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:49.079 plutonium in it, isn't it technically transuranic? Uh? It's. It 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.320 certainly can overlap it's And again it's one of those 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:54.760 designations that we find in the United States but not 0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.079 in other countries. It's going to come into play when 0:13:57.120 --> 0:14:01.840 we talk about geologic reposite tories and whether or not 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.920 we have any working ones currently. Yeah. Okay, so we've 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.200 separated the nuclear waste down into these categories, but we 0:14:10.200 --> 0:14:15.160 should probably talk about how dangerous is it. Should we 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.840 be worried? Well, all right, should we be worried in general? 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.120 I mean, you don't need to lose sleep tonight day 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:24.560 to day, You're all right, But let me try to 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:28.840 approach that again. Um, let's say you walk into a 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:31.440 room with some high level waste in it and you 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:34.240 just stand there for ten minutes. Should you be worried? Yes? 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:36.240 You should. You should. First of all, you should be 0:14:36.280 --> 0:14:37.920 worried about anyone who told you that was a good 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:41.240 idea because that person does not like you. Um. The 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:47.160 in fact, the the whole concept of the danger of 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:53.240 radiation uh involves the level of radioactive material, the amount 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:56.760 of time that you have spent an exposed to said material, 0:14:56.880 --> 0:15:00.760 and the distance between you and said material. Before we 0:15:00.760 --> 0:15:02.880 get into that, let's just let's just talk about plutonium, 0:15:02.920 --> 0:15:07.280 all right, Just using plutonium as an example, now, uh, 0:15:07.320 --> 0:15:09.960 there is uh, there are a lot of people who 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.920 say that plutonium is the most toxic substance on Earth. 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:16.240 I kind of maybe take issue with that because there 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:18.720 are a lot of different ways you can measure toxicity 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.080 and plutonium. I mean, there are different isotopes of plutonium. 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.720 Someone much more dangerous. If someone were to give you 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:27.040 a big old bowl of plutonium dust and say and 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.120 a spoon, and say, do you want to ingust this 0:15:29.240 --> 0:15:30.480 or do you want to say that it's the most 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.000 toxic stuff in the universe? I think you go with 0:15:33.040 --> 0:15:35.000 the second one. Well, what if somebody gave you a 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.280 big bowl of plutonium dust and also gave you a 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:40.360 big bowl of bochi linum toxin and and said what 0:15:40.440 --> 0:15:44.120 that you have to eat? Yeah, whichever is the least toxic. 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:46.080 I mean, I guess it depends on whether or not 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.400 there any marshmallows in either of them. At that point, 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:51.560 that's usually how I make my decision on all serial 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.080 based products. Okay, no, I'm sorry, my I should take 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:57.280 my piddling objection aside. In any case, whatever it is, 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:00.160 you don't want to mess around with plutonium. Breathe in 0:16:00.240 --> 0:16:05.640 plutonium dust significantly increases your chances of developing lung cancer later. Now, 0:16:05.680 --> 0:16:09.240 when I say significantly increases your chances, keep in mind 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:12.840 that does not mean you will definitely develop lung cancer. 0:16:13.200 --> 0:16:15.120 It also doesn't mean that if you do develop lung 0:16:15.160 --> 0:16:18.680 cancer that was specifically because you breathed in plutonium particles. 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:20.960 There may be other contributing factors that lead to that, 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:25.000 including inherited ones, whether or not you're a smoker, other 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:29.720 issues like that. So the point being, the statistics are 0:16:29.760 --> 0:16:32.160 tricky things, and you have to keep that in mind 0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.760 whenever you're talking about any statistical increase. But it does 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:39.160 mean that you are really bringing putting yourself in severe 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:41.760 danger by being in contact with that stuff is not 0:16:41.880 --> 0:16:45.600 good for you. UM and uh yeah. Part of the 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:48.960 problem there is how long how long these things last 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:53.760 in the environment. UM. For example, plutonium two thirty nine. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.280 Half of any given bit of the stuff that we 0:16:56.320 --> 0:17:00.680 handle today will still be harmful in two thousand years. Yeah, 0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:04.760 so you know, obviously much worse than something like secondhand smoke. 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:07.840 You know, this is something that is persistent and unless 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:11.880 you have a way of containing it well away from humans, 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.520 it's going to potentially cause some really big problems. Right, 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:18.119 So you don't have to worry just about not being 0:17:18.200 --> 0:17:20.560 in the same room with it yourself. You have to 0:17:20.600 --> 0:17:25.120 worry about a thousand generations down the road not being 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.880 in the same room. Yeah. Then there's radiation sickness, which 0:17:29.320 --> 0:17:31.880 not a fun thing to talk about. But the severity 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.960 of radiation sickness depends upon how much radiation you have absorbed, 0:17:35.080 --> 0:17:38.560 and it's not common, but it is serious and often 0:17:38.600 --> 0:17:41.840 fatal depending upon the exposure. So in your example of 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:45.440 walking unprotected into a room filled with high level waste, 0:17:45.440 --> 0:17:49.120 that exposure would be pretty severe specifically, and getting more 0:17:49.160 --> 0:17:52.119 severe every moment you spend in contact with that stuff. 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.639 So the determining factors are, like I said, the strength 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:58.320 of the radiated energy, which is quite high with high 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.040 level waste. How much does since was between you and 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:04.080 the radiation source. Some parts of our body are more 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:06.600 sensitive to radiation than other parts of our body, like 0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:11.320 the gastro intestinal tract is really sensitive as his bone marrow. 0:18:12.080 --> 0:18:15.880 Early symptoms are really unpleasant. They include nausea and vomiting. 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:22.679 Those symptoms will set up pretty much in a correlation 0:18:22.760 --> 0:18:25.680 with how much exposure you had, So the more exposure 0:18:25.720 --> 0:18:28.560 you had, the earlier the symptoms will show up. Um. 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.160 If it was a really severe case, then you might 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:35.520 be very sick within within an hour or two. At 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:38.480 most other cases where you might have had exposure but 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.520 it wasn't as severe, it may take a couple of 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.840 days before any symptoms show up. Um. We measure these 0:18:43.920 --> 0:18:46.679 radiation dosages in a couple of different ways. There are 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:50.200 units that we call grays. Uh. An X ray tends 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:54.120 to be less than point one grays. It's also generally 0:18:54.200 --> 0:18:56.080 focused on a small area of the body and X 0:18:56.160 --> 0:18:58.639 ray is so it ends up being less of a 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.919 of a threat than say an all body exposure of 0:19:01.960 --> 0:19:06.119 some powerful radioactive sources. So I give you that fancy 0:19:06.200 --> 0:19:09.280 lead bib. Yeah, So again it really limits the area 0:19:09.400 --> 0:19:12.719 that is exposed to this sort of thing. Um, and 0:19:12.760 --> 0:19:16.280 then your symptoms of radiation sickness will usually appear only 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.560 after the entire body has absorbed one gray or more 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:23.400 of radio radioactivity. Doses greater than six gray are usually 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:27.119 not treatable and typically lead to death within two weeks. Now, 0:19:27.200 --> 0:19:29.520 there's also another unit called the sivert, which you may 0:19:29.560 --> 0:19:31.840 have heard of. Now. This is a unit of dose 0:19:32.040 --> 0:19:35.239 equivalent which is used to relate the different effects from 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:37.920 various radiation types on the human body. So it accounts 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:40.600 for a quality factor, which is the type of radiation, 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:43.920 and a weighting factor, which was the type of tissue affected. 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:46.360 It's a little more specific than grays. In other words, 0:19:46.480 --> 0:19:49.679 you should be getting the sense that not all radioactivity 0:19:49.800 --> 0:19:53.720 is the same and not all radioactivity exposure will have 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:56.440 the same effect on your body right there. So it's 0:19:56.480 --> 0:19:59.520 kind of hard to predict in certain cases what exactly 0:19:59.600 --> 0:20:01.919 is going to have happened to you. But with this 0:20:02.000 --> 0:20:04.679 high level waste, we know it is very dangerous. This 0:20:04.760 --> 0:20:06.560 is this is also why it's important to know the 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:11.080 difference between ionizing radiation and non ionizing radiation. So high 0:20:11.119 --> 0:20:13.960 level waste, we're talking ionizing radiation. This is dangerous stuff, 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:17.080 But there's other types of radiation that is non ionizing 0:20:17.119 --> 0:20:21.200 for example, radio waves. So radio waves like the kind 0:20:21.240 --> 0:20:25.040 that come from a cell phone tower are not ionizing radiation. 0:20:25.200 --> 0:20:29.240 It's a they both radiate energy, but they are two 0:20:29.400 --> 0:20:32.679 different types of radiation and should not be confused. All right, 0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:37.119 So we've established there are different types of radiation. That 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.600 we have established are different types of radioactive waste, all 0:20:39.640 --> 0:20:41.040 of which we need to figure out what to do 0:20:41.119 --> 0:20:43.560 with them. So what do we do with them? What? 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.879 What typically is done with the stuff? Well, fortunately we 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.719 don't have to worry all that much when we we 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:51.600 still do have to be careful, we don't have to 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:54.680 worry all that much about the lower level wastes. Yes, 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:59.440 they're not intensely dangerous. You can typically just sort of 0:20:59.520 --> 0:21:04.280 bury them in a what's called a civil nuclear waste facility. Yeah, 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:07.760 it's not that much different from say dump. Yeah, it's 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:10.919 it's a pit or a trench. Basically it's covered with 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.040 soil most of the time, so you you know, as 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:15.399 long as I mean, you might put a sign up 0:21:15.440 --> 0:21:18.200 that's like, hey, don't eat the soil, right right, Yeah, 0:21:18.240 --> 0:21:23.399 it's it's generally considered to be safe within the realm 0:21:23.440 --> 0:21:27.600 of of safety. It's it's in there so it also 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:31.600 I think typically what's considered lower level waste also has 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:35.680 a shorter lifespan, right that it doesn't remain dangerous as long. 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.080 And also, while while it's very common for us to 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.879 see these in these these pits are trenches, particularly in 0:21:43.880 --> 0:21:46.760 the United States, some other countries actually put low level 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.560 waste in depositories. So Finland and Sweden both have depositories 0:21:50.880 --> 0:21:54.240 where they put low level and intermediate level waste UM, 0:21:54.280 --> 0:21:58.080 which is that's going an extra mile for safety, or 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:03.480 at least an extra several um mill might be generous, 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.399 but it's uh, you know, it's it's going a step 0:22:07.440 --> 0:22:09.800 further closer to what has been proposed for a high 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:13.320 level waste, but it's UM. It's interesting to me that 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:16.600 there are countries that are taking that extra step instead 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.440 of UH and stuff simply burying it, which from what 0:22:20.480 --> 0:22:25.040 we can tell, seems to be adequate. Going up a 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:28.879 little bit from that, you've got the disposal of byproducts 0:22:28.880 --> 0:22:31.640 like tailings, which is somewhere in between this low level 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:33.240 and what we're going to talk about in a moment, 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:36.720 which is the high level UM now. Now tailings here 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:40.760 in the United States of the uranium milling sites here 0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:43.520 are inactive and are currently the responsibility of the Department 0:22:43.520 --> 0:22:46.719 of Energy. Um so they are the ones that are 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:49.000 taking all of these steps for us, rather than the 0:22:49.119 --> 0:22:52.359 private nuclear companies that may have opened the mind to 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:54.840 begin with. So they set up these sites that use 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:58.439 clay and rock to prevent seepage, and uh, you know, 0:22:58.560 --> 0:23:02.720 put up signs and fences and legal land use restrictions. 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:06.080 There's an actual ep A web page that recommends that, 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.400 you know, really you should not misused tailings for construction 0:23:09.440 --> 0:23:14.320