High-level radioactive waste from light-water reactors

TLDR

Light‑water reactors generate radioactive nuclei whose decay histories are tracked. The study examines various release pathways—meteorites, volcanism, airborne particulates, and human intrusion—and develops a cost‑benefit analysis for monitoring buried waste. The analysis shows that deep burial delays biosphere exposure, that long‑term groundwater release poses a low but measurable risk (≈0.4 deaths per million years per year of nuclear power), and that buried high‑level waste is far less hazardous than uranium mill tailings, with nuclear power ultimately reducing human radiation exposure over geological timescales.

Abstract

The production of radioactive nuclei during the operation of a light-water reactor is traced, and their decay history is followed. The potential environmental impacts of this waste are calculated and shown to be comparable to those of other materials we produce. Assuming deep burial, it is shown that there are important time delays which prevent the waste from reaching the biosphere in the first few hundred years while its toxicity is decreasing by several orders of magnitude. In the long term, the most important pathway to man was found to be through groundwater into food and water supplies, with consequences calculated to be 0.4 fatalities in ${10}^{6}$ years from each year of all-nuclear power in U.S. Other pathways considered and found to be less important include meteorites, volcanism, release through ground water to airborne particulate, and human intrusion by drilling and mining for unspecified materials and for salt. For time scales longer than ${10}^{6}$ years, nuclear power is shown to reduce man's exposure to radiation by consuming uranium. A cost-benefit analysis is developed for surveillance of buried waste. It is shown that buried high-level waste is environmentally much less dangerous than uranium mill tailings.