Environmental Concerns

Environmental Concerns

URANIUM is the most recent addition to the list of primary energy sources from which humans have learned to recover useful energy. Nuclear fuels manufactured from uranium are unique in two respects: they have an energy/weight ratio which is orders of magnitude greater than any other fuel and they, along with the equipment used in processing and converting them, are potentially lethal to all forms of life for extended periods of time.

Functional Components

The Uranium supply chain is not only technologically more complex than other supply chains but it si also different in kind. Combustion residuals from fossil fuels are noxious and if dumped into environmental systems in sufficient quantities are harmful but only rarely are they lethal. Residuals from nuclear fission are lethal and cannot be allowed to enter the environment directly. Consequently it is more appropriate in this section to consider the full nuclear fuel cycle rather than just the supply chain up to the point of end use. This serves to emphasise the commitment that has to be made to permanent storage and /or reprocessing of nuclear residuals.

Environment Aspects

In all stages of t he Nuclear Fuel Cycle except mining and milling the material being handled. The equipment used and the residuals must be isolated from the biosphere. Even during mining and milling special care must be taken to protect miners from radon gas and to contain tailings. Nuclear materials and residuals may be broadly distinguished on the basis of whether they emit low or high levels of radiation and whether the level persists for short (months/years), intermediate (decades, centuries), or long periods. The intensity of radiation determines the degree of containment required and the persistence determines the length of time containment and isolation from the environment must be provided. At present nuclear residuals we contained and placed into short intermediate water filled stainless steel and concrete larks usually at the site ofr t he plant at which they were produced. Long term or permanent storage sites are not yet in use. Investigations are under way to determine the suitability of storage either in underground cavities in impermeable, completely stable geological structures or burial in red clays at the bottome of ocean deeps. Before the end of this century some of the early nuclear reactors used in the generation of electricity will be decommissioned raising the question of their disposal. Temporary measures involve shutting down the plant and the establishment of a complete security system to prevent re-entry. Long term measures require partial or complete dismantling and the entombment of equipment in a massive cocoon of reinforced concrete.

Organisational Structure

The mining and milling of uranium ores, outside the centrally planned economics, is in the hands of large private mining companies, some of them divisions of energy conglomerates. The remaining stages of the front end of the nuclear cycle are still generally carried out by government controlled agencies or corporations. The reactors themselves are owned by electric utility companies and the back end of the cycle (to the extent that it is developed) involves a mix private and public sector organisations. Research and development is also shared between the two sectors (with the emphasis on the public sector) where as the design and construction of reactors and ancillary equipment is largely carried out by a relatively small number of international E. The nuclear fuel industry is the most widely and stringently regulated of the energy industries. International and national agencies attempt to control and monitor every stage of the nuclear cycle by means of continuously evolving regulatory and licensing procedures and in the case of national government by direct participation.