Épreuve orale de DNL Thème:

Baccalauréat ES/L ou S
Anglais / Physique-Chimie Power Plants

A VERY UNUSUAL EXCHANGE OVER THE ATLANTIC

The UK is sending some 700kg of highly enriched uranium to be dis-

posed of in the US, the largest amount that has ever been moved out of
the country.
The vast majority of the UK’s waste comes from its fleet of nuclear power
stations. Most of it is stored at the Sellafield site in north-west England.
But the material being sent to the US is a particularly high grade of en-
riched uranium that you wouldn’t want to move to Sellafield without build-
ing a new storage facility - presumably more expensive than the cost of
transportation.
How to find a long-term solution to nuclear waste? Countries with atomic
weapons or civilian nuclear power have been wrestling with this for sev-
eral decades.
This is partly because the problem was neglected for years, but more
fundamentally because governments have failed to develop a strategy
acceptable to the communities affected. This reflects the uniqueness of
the problem, of course - we are talking about substances which could
harm human health for tens of thousands of years into the future.
The scientific community does in fact agree on how to dispose of these
materials safely: deep underground in appropriate geology such as clay
or granite, with well-engineered radiation barriers as an extra defence.
In the absence of a deep-disposal plan, the UK has a more immediately pressing issue - what to do with Sellafield’s
contaminated materials and waste from the UK’s near-70 years in the nuclear power and weapons business, much of
which is housed in dilapidated facilities that are not fit for purpose.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) expects it will cost some £68 billion to clean up Sellafield by stabilising
and safely packaging the waste and building new stores. This will only be completed by around 2120.
So nuclear waste remains the Achilles heel of the nuclear industry, in the UK and elsewhere. While the financial prob-
lems behind the proposed new nuclear station Hinkley Point attract most of the headlines, the waste problem hangs
over the industry behind the scenes.

http://www.theregister.o..kw
London, April 2016

Comment on the documents as you like. Part of your presentation must include your point of view on uses of
radioactive matter.
You may use the following questions as a guide:

- Explain where this radioactive waste comes from.

- Give reasons why it’s very important to find long-lasting solutions for nuclear waste storage.
 - Discuss the following statement: “Stopping all nuclear power stations would be the ultimate solution.”

ATTENTION, ces sujets ne doivent pas être annotés et doivent rester dans la salle d’examen.