Hazards of Buried Radioactive Wastes from Electricity Generation
Publication: Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9, Issue 1
Abstract
We consider the risk of high level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants, once buried in the ground, being released by ground water intrusion and eventually being ingested by a human to cause cancer. A probabilistic risk analysis is given for an average United States burial site—it seems reasonable to assume that a particular carefully selected site would be at least as secure. If the effects are summed indefinitely into the future, the result is -y). It is shown that this is thousands of times less than the deaths per GWe-y now being caused by coal burning electricity generation. Compelling arguments are given that only effects over the next should be considered, and these are very much smaller. A probabilistic risk analysis is given for an average low level waste burial site, adding up effects indefinitely into the future; the result is . The reasons why the public perceives the dangers from radioactive waste to be so much greater than indicated by these analyses are enumerated, and simple countering responses are suggested.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Practice Periodical of Hazardous, Toxic, and Radioactive Waste Management
Volume 9 • Issue 1 • January 2005
Pages: 4 - 12
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Jun 15, 2004
Accepted: Jun 15, 2004
Published online: Jan 1, 2005
Published in print: Jan 2005
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