A Project to Develop a Storage Facility for Nuclear Fuel in Nuclear Power Plant in U.S - Coursework Example

A Project to Develop a Storage Facility for Nuclear Fuel in Nuclear Power Plant in U.S Introduction In United s, the utilization of electricity remitted by the nuclear power plants is more than 20%. While nuclear fission creates high volumes of energy, its shortcoming is that it also creates high level of radioactive waste (Alley 12). Thus, the main aim of this project is to develop a storage facility for the nuclear fuel spent in the power plants in order to formulate a suitable setting for a nuclear refuse repository. This project shall evaluate and discuss the economic, geographic and environmental aspects of a national storage facility. The study shall be comprised of a concise statement of the programme of work, objectives, and methods of collecting information, the relevance of the project, schedule for completing the project and the cost of the project. Statement of the Project Objectives The Department of Energy (DOE), have been assigned with the roles and responsibilities of accepting and managing nuclear fuel that has been spent from commercial nuclear power plants for permanent storage. Nonetheless, this department has been undecided on exactly how these high levels of radioactive refuse can be deposited and managed effectively to avoid eroding the safeness of the environment. Researchers have for the longest time proposed the mountains of Yucca in Nevada as a suitable ground for this operation (Alley 14). Several questions have been stipulated in regards to whether this ground is safe enough to be used as a nuclear waste repository. Scientists in the Los Alamos National Laboratory for instance, have questioned the long term safety the mountains. Charles Bowman, who is a research at the Los Alamos Lab, created a hypothesis which stated that, several years to come; storing nuclear garbage in these mountains may actually commence a chain of nuclear reactions. In his approach, he stated that these nuclear reactions may lead to explosions that are equivalent to atomic bombs. He thus holds that the people considering this site as a suitable plot for storing nuclear waste might not have consider all the side effects and safety issues linked to the potentially hazardous situations in the mountains (Alley 14). When the hypothesis of Charles Bowman is considered carefully, it can be founded on the rationale that a significant amount of waste stored in the land can lead to an eventual dispensation via the rock to form a critical mass i.e. an amount of fissile constituents such as uranium, plutonium, etc. containing significant mass to instigate a neutron chain reaction. Thus, if this chain reaction commences from underground, the rocks at this level would aid in keeping the system compressed and catalyze in speeding up the chain reactions. This would then give credibility to Bowman’s hypothesis because a chain reaction developed underground has a great capacity of generating high volumes of energy in very short period of time, which could cause a nuclear blast. An explosion of this magnitude has a greater hazard of releasing radioactive substance into groundwater as well as air, affecting the lives of all living organism depending on these variables (Alley 17). There are two main objectives for this project. These are i. To provide a criteria that accounts for an adequate repository setting for a high radioactive refuse ii. Determine how the mountains of Yucca is a suitable site for the nuclear storage facility of the spent nuclear fuel to be developed Scope of the Project As noted by the Department of Energy (DOE), there are several constraints of this project. First, the term safety not only affects the repository setting and the people near it, it also concerns people along the transportation itinerary. This implies that the storage facility cannot be developed in an area that is comprised of a large population of people. Similarly, it cannot be developed in an area where there is a ground water supply. The second constraint of the project is the life span of the repository. This shall be determined through evaluating the period that the storage canister as well as the nuclear refuse can remain intact. The project shall thus ensure that the site is situated at a place with a dry climate since moisture can make the storage waste canisters to corrode. A Statement of Program of Work There has been an increasing interest in the nuclear sector to determine whether the mountains of Yucca shall provide a suitable storage facility for the radioactive waste. Several research studies as well as journal articles have been put forward in a bid to discuss its suitability of the grounds as a spent fuel repository in the near future has been demonstrated as a result of this growing interest. This project shall utilize the books, records, articles and the research studies to form a basis for the literature review to be completed. Here, the project shall utilize the information derived from existing discourse and studies to determine the attributes needed for a suitable storage facility to be developed. This shall be utilized to provide criteria that explain factors needed for an adequate repository setting for a high radioactive refuse. This section will determine factors such as the structural organizational of a rock that will give it the capacity to withstands aspects such as human invasion in the future. Additionally, it shall also evaluate unpredictable circumstance such as ‘what will happen suppose the storage canisters corrode and do not have the capacity to last as long as expected”? The project shall determine whether the natural ground for the repository shall contain any waste. To attain this goal, this project shall be founded on the ‘Background Information of CFR’ where the environmental standards for the mountain of Yucca have been provided. The evaluation shall also be grounded on the book of ‘Understanding Radio Active Waste’ that was put forward by Murray (1989). In order to meet the second objective, the evaluations shall also be founded on the sources mentioned above. Additionally, other sources such as the standards of Environment Protection Agency shall be utilized. This is to ensure that the credibility of the project is enhanced. Moreover, an assessment on the validity of possibility of environmental disasters as stipulated by Charles Bowman shall also be undertaken. This shall be enacted through grounding the assessment on the presentation of ‘Blow Up the mountains of Yucca’ that was put forward by Clark. The project shall also capitalize on the history of nuclear waste information as a basis of evaluation on whether the mountains of Yucca are suitable grounds for the radioactive refuse. This information holds a key role of enlightening concerned parties on some of the waste problems facing the nuclear sector are. Management Plan In order for the project to be successful there are several activities that should be undertaken. Similarly, the project entails several costs and qualifications that are mandatory to complete it. Ultimately, it culminates into a formal report that is scheduled to be finalized on 20th June, 2014. To attain this goal the schedule presented below shall be pursued. 4/28 5/5 5/12 5/19 5/26 6/2 6/9 6/16 6/23 Research Criteria for suitable Waste repository Research on the mountains of Yucca Prepare presentation Draft Final Report Create illustrations Draft front issue and background matter Revise final report Proof read final report Access groundwater on site Fig: Schedule for completion of the project Costs of the Project Most of the comprised in the budget of this project is not appreciable. This is because most of the sources needed for the project are available in the school’s library system. The costs for the project include minimal costs such photocopying articles, binding, printing and presentation report estimated at $ 30, transport costs and miscellaneous costs estimated at $ 80. Benefits of the Study In U.S. the commercial reactors have produced more than thirty thousand metric tons of nuclear refuse. In addition to this, the commercial reactors have also given rise to the production of high level garbage from nuclear weapons such as plutonium and uranium. This radioactive garbage has over the years increased the risk factors of the environment. Thus, the significance of this project is that it allows various evaluations to be conducted with the aim creating suitable storage facilities for the spent nuclear fuel. It also evaluates the viability of utilizing mountains of Yucca as a repository site for the high radioactive nuclear materials as a means of managing the waste materials produced from the nuclear power plants. The other benefit of the study is that it provides insight to various parties concerned with the management of nuclear waste materials. These parties include students, nuclear energy experts, local government, etc. Furthermore, the viability of this study is such that the information can be used as a basis for other research studies to be conducted. These studies can be researches in regards to the mountains of Yucca, history of nuclear refuse, storage of nuclear fuel that has already been utilized by various nuclear power plants, Nuclear power plants in United States. Works Cited Alley, William. The Problem of High Level Nuclear Waste. New York: Rutledge, 2008. Print. Raymond, Clark. Proceedings of the 1997 Waste Management Conference. Washington: Environmental Protection Agency, 2000. Print. Raymond, Murray. Understanding Nuclear Waste. New York: Battelle Press, 1989. Print. Read More