What is the difference between high and low-level nuclear waste?

There are two broad classifications: high-level or low-level waste. High-level waste is primarily spent fuel removed from reactors after producing electricity. Low-level waste comes from reactor operations and from medical, academic, industrial and other commercial uses of radioactive materials.

What are the different levels of nuclear waste?

There are three types of nuclear waste, classified according to their radioactivity: low-, intermediate-, and high-level. The vast majority of the waste (90\% of total volume) is composed of only lightly-contaminated items, such as tools and work clothing, and contains only 1\% of the total radioactivity.

What are the two types of nuclear waste?

The various types of nuclear waste include uranium tailings, transuranic (TRU) waste, low-level waste, intermediate-level waste, high-level waste and spent fuel rods.

What is considered low-level nuclear waste?

This waste typically consists of contaminated protective shoe covers and clothing, wiping rags, mops, filters, reactor water treatment residues, equipments and tools, luminous dials, medical tubes, swabs, injection needles, syringes, and laboratory animal carcasses and tissues.

What is an example of high level waste?

High-level radioactive wastes are the highly radioactive materials produced as a byproduct of the reactions that occur inside nuclear reactors. Spent (used) reactor fuel when it is accepted for disposal. Waste materials remaining after spent fuel is reprocessed.

What is considered high level waste?

High-level waste is the highly radioactive waste material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations; and other highly radioactive …

What is intermediate level nuclear waste?

Intermediate-level waste Intermediate-level wastes includes resins, chemical sludge and metal nuclear fuel cladding, as well as contaminated materials from reactor decommissioning. It may be solidified in concrete or bitumen or mixed with silica sand and vitrified for disposal.

What is intermediate-level nuclear waste?

How is low level nuclear waste disposed?

Disposal of low-level waste is straightforward and can be undertaken safely almost anywhere. Storage of used fuel is normally under water for at least five years and then often in dry storage. Deep geological disposal is widely agreed to be the best solution for final disposal of the most radioactive waste produced.

What happens to high-level nuclear waste?

High-level radioactive waste is stored for 10 or 20 years in spent fuel pools, and then can be put in dry cask storage facilities. In 1997, in the 20 countries which account for most of the world’s nuclear power generation, spent fuel storage capacity at the reactors was 148,000 tonnes, with 59\% of this utilized.

What are examples of high level nuclear waste?

waste or a “throw-away” spent fuel and possibly cladding hulls. Other examples of what sometimes is considered a high-level waste are removed highly irradiated reactor components, such as control rods, piping or flow orifices, and a container with several millions of curies of the gaseous fission product, krypton-85.