An Answer to Nuclear Waste

by Patrick Whelan

The Economist Magazine published an article entitled Pernicious Pellets. The article discusses how a new plastic could cut the amount of radioactive waste from nuclear power stations around the world. The article begins with a critical fact about nuclear power that is not recognized by many people. Nuclear power does not emit greenhouse gases that cause global warming. With energy demands on the rise and more nations looking to make clean energy a priority, nuclear power is a logic choice. The article states "Nuclear power-stations also create low-level waste. This is less dangerous but much more abundant. And less dangerous is not the same as safe, so this waste, too, must be disposed carefully." Low level waste is treated with water which cools the core of the reactor.

Scientist in Germany and India believe they have found a new way to deal with the wast. The solution is to mop up the waste in the water with plastic. When the water is pumped through the reactors core sometimes the ions become radioactive which makes the water radioactive, which also makes the pipes sometimes become radioactive. In order to make the steel in the pipes stronger to handle the radioactive waste, engineers line it with cobalt. When scientist clean the cobalt by trapping it, they capture more non-radioactive iron ions than radioactive ones. The solution is a plastic polymer that binds to cobalt and then taking the the radioactive ions and putting them in hydrochloric acid. A small amount of polymer used can as the article states, "Mop up a lot of radioactive cobalt."

Scientist also believe using this polymer would be cheaper to use than getting rid of the large quantities of waste like transporting and storing it. The technology is new and scientist are still working on it, but it is a welcomed change to just storing nuclear waste in drums deep in mountains. The international Atomic Energy Agency believes that seventy new nuclear power plants will be built over the next fifteen years, mainly in Asia to meet energy demands. I would not want to live near a nuclear power plant myself, but the possibility of treating nuclear waste with plastic can have a huge impact on this form of energy which is making a comeback in a time of clean energy demands.