| The North Korean government has announced that it has conducted an underground nuclear bomb test on Monday. In doing so, North Korea defied warnings from the United Nations. North Korea now runs the risks of further sanctions. After the alleged test, South Korea put its military on alert. The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, is in Seoul, South Korea for talks. The alleged nuclear test is expected to heighten tensions in the region. It is also expected to deal yet another blow to the foreign policy of U.S. President George W. Bush just before the upcoming elections. The White House has called the actions of North Korea in purportedly testing a nuclear weapon was a provocative act. He expects the U.N. Security Council to take immediate actions in response. Even China, a long time and staunch ally of North Korea, called the nuclear test a brazen act. Russia's President condemned the nuclear test as well. After North Korea's announcement of the nuclear test, the U.S. dollar went upward to an eight month high against the Japanese yen. The U.S. Geological Survey said that it did detect a 4.2 magnitude tremor in North Korea at the time the alleged nuclear test was said to have occurred. The Japanese Meteorological Agency confirmed that there was a tremor at the time North Korea was said to have tested a nuclear device. The official news agency in North Korea said there were no danger and no leak as a result of its nuclear device test.
Irradiated fuel - discharged fuel elements of nuclear reactors of atomic power stations.
The term “irradiated” is due to the specificity of the work of the atomic power station – a nuclear chain reaction of any amount of appreciable power cannot occur in separate fuel elements and a nuclear chain reaction is possible only in active zone of a nuclear reactor, where the required neutron flux density is created thanks to the placing of several fuel elements combined in special fuel assemblies.
The nuclear chain reaction starts from mutual radiation in the active zone, from here the term - irradiated nuclear fuel, i.e., fuel, participating in nuclear reaction. In the majority of modern reactors, fuel elements is a metallic (zirconium) rod with “tablets” of uranium joints (more often uranium dioxide) in the centre with a length of 3m and about 1-3cm in diameter.
Irradiated nuclear fuel, unlike fresh, has considerable radioactivity and after extraction from the active zone of reactor, it is sustained for 2-5 years in a cooling pond or in periphery of the active zone of the reactor (reactor BN-600). After reducing the radioactivity of the fuel, as a rule, it is sent to the factory for treatment for reuse.
Radioactive waste (RAW) – is waste, which contains radioactive chemical elements and of no practical value. Often, these are products of nuclear processes, such as nuclear fission. The major part of radioactive waste constitutes the so called “less-active wastes”, possessing insignificant radioactivity per mass unit or volume. For example, used protective overalls, which are slightly contaminated, but nevertheless posing a danger of radioactive infection of the organism through the skin pores, respiratory tracts, water or food belong to radioactive waste.
Sources of waste:
Natural sources of radiation:
Substances, possessing natural radioactivity exist which are known to us as natural sources of radiation. The major part of this waste is substances, which are formed as a result of the disintegration of uranium or thorium and alpha-particle emissions.
Coal:
Coal contains an insignificant number of radioactive nuclides, such as uranium or thorium; however, the content of these elements in coal is less than their average concentration in the earth crust. Their concentration increases in cindery dust as they practically are not combustible. However, the radioactivity of ashes is also low, it is approximately equal to the radioactivity of black clay shale and less than in phosphatic rocks but poses a certain danger since some quantity of cindery dust remains in the atmosphere and is inhaled by human beings.
Oil and gas:
By-products of the oil and gas industry often contain radium and its decomposition products. Sulphate depositions in oil wells can be very rich with radium; water, oil and gas in wells often contain radon. During disintegration, radon forms solid radioactive isotopes, forming deposits inside the pipelines. In oil refineries, the propane manufacture shop is usually one of the most radioactive zones, as radon and propane possess an identical boiling point.
Mineral processing:
Waste, obtained during mineral processing, can possess natural radioactivity. |
[ If you haven't heard the explosion yesterday, nor saw the TV or read newspapers, let me say it real quick - North Korea exploded its first nuclear bomb under ground yesterday. At least they claim they did, because scientists are skeptical it was a nuclear explosion. Seismographs all over the world detected a blast at around 1 kiloton or less - equivalent to the explosive force of 1,000 tons of TNT. For a nuclear device, that would be so weak that the French defense minister suggested that "there could have been a failure" with the North Korean reported test. ]
