Sellafield

One of the largest environmental disasters in world history happened on March 11, 2011. The site was the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. A 9.0 magnitude earthquake was experienced off the northeastern coast of Japan, and this triggered tsunamis that affected shorelines within minutes. Dozens of villages alongside 200 miles of coastline were substantially destroyed. Waves measuring more than 40 feet struck the Fukushima nuclear power plant, located only 150 miles from Tokyo. The…

Introduction – As the human population is growing, there is the need to produce more energy to fill everybody’s needs and also try to keep the environment undestroyed and stop the climate change. One of the solutions to this problem was found in the science of atomic radiation, atomic change and nuclear fission, which was developed between 1895 to 1945, where most of the of the development happened in the last six years of that period and the focus at the time was at the atomic bombs ("History…

In the last 60 years, Uranium mining has become the basis of one of the worlds most popular sources of energy. While Uranium is almost always used for nuclear energy, it is also used in medical isotopes. To obtain Uranium for nuclear power, it is generally mined in large open pit and underground mines. Like most other mines, mining Uranium destroys the ecosystem and landscape, produces lots of noise pollution, demolishes habitats and are very dangerous. More specifically, Uranium mines have an…

1.A main problem of nuclear waste is that it doesn’t decay quickly and it is estimated that nuclear waste will take several billions of years to become non-threatening to humans. Nuclear waste has become a bigger issue due to the fact of the amount of nuclear waste facilities, with more nuclear waste facilities meaning more nuclear waste created. 2.If Nuclear waste isn’t dealt with accordingly, it will then become a bigger issue than it was already, Nuclear waste has a huge influence on the…

reactor inside the generator gives off a very dangerous radioactive waste after the reaction of the uranium element. In Figure 3 the photograph depicts a recent photograph of actual radioactive release found in large cement containers in the city of Sellafield in the UK. The effects of radioactive fluids vary widely from a simple nausea, cancer, and even genetic mutations. This radioactive waste cannot simply be dumped in a trash can. The disposal methods depend on what degree of radioactivity…

In recent decades the operators at Sellafield has tossed more than 500 kg of plutonium into the sea through pipelines that are only visible from the air and the operators of these companies argue this is land-based disposal and it has been approved by the governing authorities. What does the nuclear industry gain from this? Well that is easy, the waste pipelines are hidden from public eye so no more negative press, after all if we cannot see it, it isn’t really there. The unethical practice…