SCIENCE

Other countries have hit political roadblocks in finding a lasting fix to the world’s nuclear waste problem. Finland, meanwhile, has been quietly breaking ground. (Wall Street Journal)

What is nuclear waste? Use our great resource to better understand nuclear energy and its discontents.

Teachers, scroll down for a quick list of key resources in our Teachers Toolkit.

Discussion Ideas

• The Wall Street Journal article describes a new nuclear waste facility in Finland. What is nuclear waste? Read through the “Nuclear Energy and People” section of our encyclopedic entry for some help.
  • Nuclear waste describes material left over from the operation of a nuclear reactor. (A nuclear reactor is a type of electrical power plant.) Nuclear waste is often divided into two types.
    • tools and clothing. Most nuclear waste is tools and protective clothing worn by power plant workers.
    • nuclear fuel, fission products, and nuclear poison.
      • Nuclear fuel describes pellets of material whose atoms split during the energy-generating process of nuclear fission. Uranium and plutonium are the most common nuclear fuels.
      • Fission products are particles released during nuclear fission that cause other nuclear fuel atoms to split. Cesium is a common fission product.
      • Nuclear poison describes rods of material that can adjust how fast or slow the nuclear fission reaction will be, and so how much electricity will be generated. Xenon is a common nuclear poison.

• Why is nuclear waste a concern?
  • It’s radioactive. Radioactive material is a collection of unstable atomic nuclei. Unstable atomic nuclei are atoms that have an unbalanced number of protons or neutrons and lose energy by emitting radiation and subatomic particles. Radioactive material can be extremely toxic, causing burns and increasing the risk for cancers, blood diseases, and bone decay.

• How is radioactive nuclear waste stored?
  • “Around the world, the majority of spent nuclear fuel—which remains radioactive for thousands of years—is stored in cooling pools at reactor sites or, once cooled, in steel casks sheathed in concrete. But neither method is a long-term fix, industry experts and advocacy groups say. The pools, which are filling up, can break down over decades, and both methods have raised concerns about the high costs and adequacy of security to protect them from disasters or potential attacks.”

• Why is nuclear waste so controversial?
  • Nuclear waste storage facilities are environmentally and technologically difficult to construct. The facilities must be located hundreds of meters beneath the ground, and need to withstand current pressure, as well as the crushing pressure of future glaciations. (That’s right, these materials need to be isolated into the next ice age.) During glaciations, thick ice sheets can deform rock and entire landscapes.
    • “‘Even the hardest bedrock we have on earth, which is here, will be cracked during the ice ages expected in the next 100,000 years,’” said Finnish Greenpeace spokesman Juha Aromaa.
  • NIMBY—Not In My Backyard. Many communities vehemently oppose construction of nuclear waste storage facilities in their neighborhoods. Radioactive waste is extremely toxic and needs to be completely isolated from ecosystems for thousands of years. Politicians and community members fear radioactive leaks into local groundwater supplies, soil, or air.

• How has Finland overcome the technological and political challenges to construct a huge nuclear waste storage facility?
  • According to a nuclear waste management company, “the Finnish plans were carefully designed in a way that it won’t affect the people on the surface. To get their trust is the difficult part.” Finland has gained community trust in two ways.
    • All Finnish counties that host nuclear power plants have veto power to stop the projects.
    • Hosting sites are given tax incentives. “The money has paid for a new library, a senior home, two day-care centers, hiking trails, a hockey rink, a Finnish baseball field, and renovations for local schools and a historical mansion owned by the municipality. It also allowed the municipality to levy income tax at 18%, the third-lowest in Finland.”

TEACHERS TOOLKIT

Wall Street Journal: A 100,000-Year Tomb for Finland’s Nuclear Waste

Nat Geo: What is nuclear energy?