IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency. High School

Transcription

1 IAEA International Atomic Energy Agency High School

2 Topic B - Nuclear Waste Disposal Introduction to the Committee The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is a secondary organ of the United Nations. This international agency aims at promoting the peaceful, secure and safe management of nuclear energy and nuclear material around the world. The creation of this agency came in 1957 after United States President Dwight Eisenhower proposed it to the General Assembly in Figure 1-Logo IAEA The IAEA is constituted of a 35-member Board of Governors and a General Conference constituted of all member states. The agency essentially monitors the peaceful usage of nuclear science and technology in aim of being an active organ in maintaining international security and contributing to the economic, social and environmental development agenda of the world. Introduction to the Topic In the year 600 A.D, the global population was estimated to be roughly half a billion. In 1800 A.D, one thousand and two hundred years later, the population only doubled to a billion. Following relatively recent advancements in medicine and general wellbeing, the population skyrocketed to 7 billion in the 21st century, within a 200 year period. Alongside the industrial revolution in the late 1700s, the exponential growth of human existence has led to a drastic increase of air, marine, and terrestrial pollution. As the population increases,

3 pollution tends to increase as well, and severely harms 100 million individuals every year. To sum up this observation, traditional energy production sources have been causing a great threat to the environment as a whole. In response to this alarming issue, new sources of energy production had to be introduced to the world. As an attempted result, the electricity era welcomed the most controversial method of energy production, nuclear power plants. A nuclear power plant, by definition, is a facility that uses atomic fusion, in which heat is produced using a nuclear reactor. Similar to all conventional thermal power stations, the resulting heat is used to generate steam, which then drives a steam turbine that produces electricity. On June , the world s ever first nuclear power plant came into existence. It is located in Obninsk, Russia, and dubbed by the name of APS-1. As of July 2015, thirty nations across the globe operate 438 nuclear reactors, along with 67 ones planned in fifteen countries. Nuclear power plants provided 10.9% of the world s electricity production, according to the most recent statistics. Despite being relatively more environment-friendly than fossil fuel burning, nuclear power poses a tragic threat in the event of a reactor failure, or failing to maintain its radioactive waste. Nuclear power is the only electricity production technology that takes full responsibility for its wastes and hazards. It is of crucial importance to monitor nuclear power plants to avoid fatal Percentage Ranks of Nuclear Energy malfunctions, and to regulate their wastes to avoid radioactive contamination. Ever since the discovery of nuclear atomic power, there have been around 25 disastrous accidents and incidents in various parts of the globe. To begin with, the first deliberate disaster, killing around 200,000 individuals, happened during the end of World War II in 1945, when the United States released two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nuclear waste and contamination linger in the two Japanese cities till this day, causing massive biological complications and malformations among hundreds of thousands of local civilians. Moving on to irresponsible contamination incidents, in the Ural mountains of Eastern Russia exists Lake Karachay, better known as the most polluted spot on the planet. The lake was used as a dumping zone for the Soviet Union s nuclear

4 facilities. Cancer and birth defects escalated in the nearby inhabited districts. Moreover, an exposure to the lake of less than an hour is enough to kill an adult human being. Also in the same region, the Techa River suffers from contamination for the same reasons. The nuclear facility behind the contamination of these two natural elements, Mayak, malfunctioned on September , and resulted in the world s third biggest nuclear tragedy, known as the Kyshtym disaster. The majority of nuclear contamination events evolve around military equipment testing. Some major examples are the United State s Hanford Site, Operation Plumbbob, and Operation Fishbowl. Russia s include the Totsyoke nuclear exercise. There were also two incidents involving the explosion of nuclear military submarines; the Soviet Union s K-19 and K84. Last but not least, the two most notable nuclear pollution crises were 1986 s Chernobyl disaster and 2011 s (also most recent) Fukushima Daiichi disaster. Since nuclear accidents totally annihilate the ability to control radioactive contamination, the only solution is to prevent the erroneous situations in the first place. Concerning the nuclear waste that coagulates over time in perfectly functional nuclear power plants, there have been several approaches to handling them in the safest and most beneficial ways. History of the Topic: Two of the most recalled accident-induced radioactive contaminations are the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters. Major Disasters: Chernobyl Fallout On April 26, 1986, a massive system failure occurred at Unit 4 of the nuclear energy facility at Chernobyl, the former USSR. The operating engineers were conducting an experiment to test whether the turbines would

5 produce enough power to keep the cooling pumps active in the event of a power loss, until the backup diesel generators were powered on. To avoid any interference with the power of the Unit, the safety systems were intentionally turned off. To implement the experiment, the reactor was powered down to 25% of its capacity. This process did not sequence according to plan and the power level of the reactor dropped to less than 1%. The power, therefore, had to be slowly turned up. However, 30 seconds after the first test run, there was an unanticipated power surge. The reactor's emergency shutdown system, which should have seized an atomic chain reaction, malfunctioned. The reactor's radioactive components scattered and there was a massively violent explosion. The reactor building s 1000-tonne sealing cap was completely blown off. At extreme temperatures higher than 2000 C, the metallic rods melted instantly. The reactor was covered with graphite, which caught fire. The graphite flamed up for nine consecutive days, emitting deadly and destructive amounts of radioactive material into the vast surrounding environment. The disaster emitted more radiation than the intended release of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima. Chernobyl and a nearby city, Pripyat, remain abandoned human habitats up to this day. The Fukushima Daiichi Disaster The disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was prompted by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, on March The earthquake broke down AC power to the plant and the tsunami flooded sectors of the plant area. The tsunami washed out critical reactor equipment, which caused the persistent failure of onsite DC and AC electricity, which then resulted in the loss of reactor control, cooling, and monitoring systems in multiple units. Three reactors, Units 1, 2 and 3, underwent serious core destruction. In addition three reactor buildings were destroyed by hydrogen explosions, and extensive emissions of radioactive waste contaminated the environment in Fukushima and many neighboring areas. The catastrophe provoked widespread evacuations of local inhabitants and national panic among the Japanese citizens, drastic economic decline, and the consequent halting of all other nuclear power plants in Japan.

6 Nuclear Waste Disposal: Used Fuel Management Until governments of nuclearpowered countries establish an agreement on the techniques and whereabouts of nuclear waste disposal, all commercially used up nuclear fuel is safely and securely stored in reactor areas, in metallic-lined concrete pools filled with water, or in vacuum steel containers. This temporary storage technique is one of many approaches to resolve nuclear waste. Federal governments have committed on their legal obligations to handle used nuclear fuel from power reactors since The industry of nuclear energy is determined to work, in collaboration with international federal governments, along with their state leaders and administrating, on establishing protocols that ensures the safety, sustainability, and efficiency of nuclear power plants. Used Nuclear Fuel Storage Utilized atomic fuel comprises of little uranium pellets stacked inside compound fuel rods. All of the utilized atomic fuel generated by the atomic power industry in the last 50 years, if stacked together, would spread out a territory the size of a football field, and to a depth of approximately 10 meters. The Nuclear Energy Institution (NEI) encourages the enhancement of a unified facility for the impermanent stockpiling of utilized atomic wastes, in a willing and determined nation. Meanwhile, significant advancements may be constructed to ensure the temporality of the storage approach. Transportation

7 The IAEA gives the facilities of nuclear energy the full responsibility to displace utilized nuclear waste from nuclear power plant sites to impermanent storage areas and repositories. Transportation will be implemented using road and rail. The radioactive waste will be stored in sealed massive containers that qualify for strict security and safety requirements. Nuclear Disposal Nuclear resources may be used more than once to generate energy. No matter how many times it is used, it is of utmost importance to dispose its high-level radioactive remains permanent geological repositories. The key to achieving a sustainable management program is the establishment of facilities that specialize in mechanisms of underground disposal. The industry of nuclear energy highly encourages the Nuclear Regulatory Commission of building permanent repositories in various secluded areas on the globe.

8 Recycling Used Nuclear Fuel An alternative to the disposal of radioactive wastes in underground repositories is the recycling of the used nuclear resources. The industry is conducting extensive development, research, and demonstrations of enhanced fuel recycling technologies. However, recycling cannot completely substitute underground disposal, and thus the presence of repositories is vital in all cases. Fortunately, recycling may potentially decrease the toxicity, heat, volume and pollution of byproducts deposited in repositories. Low-Level Radioactive Waste Low-level waste usually refers to the byproducts of radioactive sources used in the medical industry, specifically in radiology. There have been numerous nuclear-related accidents in medical facilities that have killed dozens of patients. Two examples are 1996 s San Juan Dios radiotherapy accident, and

9 1990 s clinic of Zaragoza. Therefore, it is crucial for these medical institutions to take full precautions in handling nuclear material and monitoring their equipment. International Actions The following resolutions were established by the IAEA concerning the agenda Measures to Strengthen International Co-operation in Nuclear Radiation and Waste Safety : GC(44)/RES/16 GC(44)/RES/15 GC(44)/RES/14 GC(44)/RES/13 GC(44)/RES/12 GC(44)/RES/11 GC(45)/RES/10 GC(46)/RES/9 GC(47)/RES/7 The resolutions mainly revolve around the following internationally agreed upon initiatives: Assessment of disposal programmes within the guidelines of an integrated international nuclear waste disposal infrastructure Establishment of near surface and geological management facilities, including deep holes of storage for disused and sealed radioactive material Dissemination and preservation of enhancement, operational and postoperational research on nuclear waste disposal Enhancement of near-surface storage repositories Implementation of training in the field of waste management technological mechanisms and improving intercommunications between experts in nuclear waste disposal via the use of Networks, DISPONET and URF

10 Assessing institutional, socio-political, scientific, and technical issues using the aid of stakeholder involvement to boost investment confidence Investing the use of regional and internationally shared waste management facilities (multi-national solutions). Other international efforts include: Initiating a Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident in 1986 International Conference on Issues and Trends in Radioactive Waste Management - Vienna (2002) International Conference on Safe Decommissioning for Nuclear Activities: Assuring the Safe Termination of Practices involving Radioactive Materials - Berlin (2002) The Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS) - United States (2011) Recommendations: Delegates are expected to fully acknowledge the direct threat that nuclear wastes pose on the international community. Countries that are not involved in nuclear activities can collaboratively and voluntarily conduct research on nuclear waste management, and address proposals to the IAEA council. Countries that are not involved in nuclear activities may also offer resources, if available, to the directly involved states. Delegates are also expected to determine the best technique of handling wastes, in terms of finance, efficacy, and safety.

11 It is crucial to strengthen a coordinated response to emergency nuclearrelated disasters. The agenda is always open to financial funds. Questions to Consider: 1) Is your country involved with nuclear power production? If not, are there any future plans? 2) Is your country financially capable of contributing funds to international research facilities on nuclear waste management? 3) In return for financial rewards, is your country willing to donate resources, most importantly secluded land, for the implementation of nuclear waste repositories? 4) How would you enhance research about the topic in your country? 5) Would it be possible to restrict military testing of nuclear equipment? 6) How would you ensure international cooperation in the event of a misfortunate nuclear accident? References 1) "Atoms for Peace."Atoms for Peace. Web. 29 Jan <

12 2) "Timeline: Nuclear Plant Accidents - BBC News."BBC News. Web. 29 Jan < 3) "Nuclear Quotes."BrainyQuote. Xplore. Web. 29 Jan < 4) "What Happened in Chernobyl?"Greenpeace International. Web. 29 Jan < hernobyls/what-happened-in-chernobyl/>. 5) "International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."IAEA Safety Standards: Radioactive Waste Management. Web. 29 Jan < 6) "Nuclear Energy."Nuclear Power Plant Definition. Web. 29 Jan < 7) "Nuclear Power Plants, World-wide."Nuclear Power Plants, World-wide. Web. 29 Jan < 8) "World Nuclear Association."Radioactive Waste Management. Web. 29 Jan <