The UK'S electricity production by source

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200-

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1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
4 The table in Source 1 below shows data on different Year
Key
kinds of waste material left over from the core of a
• Hydro • Renewables • Nuclear Thermal
nuclear reactor,

• Figure 11.41 UK nuclear energy output

a Explain what is meant by the word 'isotope'.
b Evaluate the data and explain which of the waste
materials would be the most dangerous to handle
immediately after removal from the reactor and
which of the waste materials will need to be stored
for the longest period of time
Read the text in Source 3 from a website.
Now consider the chart in Source 2.
c With reference to sources 1, 2 and 3 evaluate the
scientific basis for the argument that the waste
produced by nuclear power is not a significant
problem.
SOURCE 3
www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf04.html
In the OECD countries, some 300 million tonnes of toxic wastes
are produced each year, but conditioned radioactive wastes
amount to only 81 000 m3 per year. In the UK for example,
around 120 000 000m3 of waste is generated per year-the
equivalent of just over 20 dustbins full for every man, woman
and child. The amount of nuclear waste produced per member
of the UK populations is 840 cm3 (a volume of under one litre).
Of this waste, 90% of the volume is only slightly radioactive
and is categorized as low-level waste (with only 1% of the total
radioactivity of all radioactive wastes). Intermediate-level waste
makes up 7% of the volume and has 4% of the radioactivity.
The most radioactive form of waste is categorized as high-level
waste and whilst accounting for only 3% of the volume of all the
radioactive waste produced (equating to around 25cm3 per UK
citizen per year), it contains 95% of the radioactivity.

Source; accessed 18/08/10

SOURCE 1

Radioactivity for 100 tons of spent fuel (curies remaining)

Isotopes |t1/2years | 10yrs 500 yrs 1000 yrs -1 10000 yrs [ 1 00 000 yrs | 200 000 yrs;
Sr-90 28 2000000 15 trace

Cs-137 30 3000000 40 trace

Pu-239 24110 22000 27000 29000 56000 8000 240

Pu-240 6540 49000 175000 170000 69000 7 trace

*A typical 1000 megawatt reactor contains about 100 tons of enriched uranium, one-third of which is renewed each year.

Taken from Warf, James C., All Things Nuclear, First Edition, Southern California Federation of Scientists, Los Angeles, 1989, p.85.

Physics for the IB MYP 4&5: by Concept