What Is A Nuclear Waste Repository
Nuclear energy is being seen an answer to energy crisis that the world is facing today. It can be an ideal source of energy mainly because it is not very expensive and does not cause pollution. However, a concern is the disposal of nuclear waste that is radioactive in nature and thus harmful to life on earth. |
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So far no suitable method has been found to obviate the nuclear waste. Theories and proposals are underway suggesting suitable places to dump this waste. These places are being termed as nuclear waste repositories. Among the list of suggested places are Yucca Mountain, deserts of Nevada and the moon. President Bush signed a bill that allows Yucca Mountains to be used as the burial place of the nuclear waste. It is apparently safe and the waste will remain undisturbed for the next 10,000 years at least. But transporting this radioactive waste is a topic of debate. How will the waste be securely carried over towns and cities and seas to be successfully dumped in the mountains? Besides, an open area like the mountains can be a soft target for the terrorists.
Another proposal is to let off the waste in to the moon’s atmosphere. The plan is to send the radioactive material in a piloted plane. With the help of an internal targeting system, this waste is let off into the lunar trajectory. The aim would be to dump it in to a small lunar crater with sides so that the material does not leak out. Moon is being looked as the perfect dumping ground mainly because it has no hydrosphere and is therefore sterile. The radioactive waste, millions of kilometers away, is highly unlikely to cause any damage to the earth. Also, studying the reuse of the radioactive waste would be made easier on the surface of the moon. But the entire process of carrying the waste from the earth to the moon is quite expensive.
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No one knows for sure who invented nuclear energy. The process that led to the production of nuclear energy started in the year 1895 when radiation was ionized. Wilhelm Rontgen passed electric current through an evacuated tube and produced X-rays. 
