Nuclear Waste – One more thing to Brazil worry about?

Since 1945, when the history of nuclear power in Brazil began, many issues have been raised. Firstly the national uranium resources were unknown on that time, because of the inefficient geologic researches. Secondly, back then, Brazil was a big exporter of monazite, (a mineral which contains small amounts of uranium) however, the export increased reports of favoring the foreign interests.
Later on 1971, when the first nuclear power plant (Angra 1) started being built, simulations of accidents revealed the fragility of the project and the impossibility of the local residents' evacuation in the event of an emergency.
And in nowadays, the main issue that we, the Brazilian population, are worried about is if the nuclear power plants with their wastes can affect the local environment or not.
What is done with the wastes? Is it polluting the river or the whole environment nearby the nuclear station? What are the risks? These are the questions that most people don’t know the answers and are scared of them. However, what they seem to don’t know is that the government and the company which runs the power plants also care about it.
Some answers for those ‘unknown and scary’ questions are provided below and it would be interesting if some Brazilian people could find and read this report.

Nuclear Waste – Total Control?

The nuclear industry is one of the few activities with human interference which is capable of controlling all the waste it produces. Due to the characteristics of the radioactive material, a government-controlled company called Eletrobrás stores and manages 24 hours a day the wastes from the two operating power plants – Angra 1 and Angra 2.
The wastes are classified by their level of radioactivity. On the power plants, the wastes classified as low radioactivity materials are those which the people wear or use to work, such as gloves, shoes, special clothes, equipments and even adhesive tapes.
After collected and separated, these materials undergo a process of decontamination to reduce their levels of radioactivity. Some materials are crushed and pressed, to occupy less space and packaged in containers that block the passage of this radiation.
The wastes classified as medium radioactivity are composed of filters, solidified liquid effluents and resins. They are packed in a solid matrix of cement and maintained within appropriate containers of steel. Over time, the material loses its radioactivity, but until then it has to be encapsulated and stored in isolated deposits and monitored.
The wastes of high radioactivity are the fuel elements used in the generation of the energy. As they can be reused in the future, after reprocessed, they are not actually waste. But, while this does not occur, the fuel elements already used in the generation of energy are stored in special pools inside of the power plants. (picture below)

(http://www.eletronuclear.gov.br/meio_ambiente/index.php?idSecao=6&idCategoria=33)
The others radioactive wastes are kept in warehouses near to the power plants until the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN) chooses a place to store them permanently. (picture below)

(http://www.eletronuclear.gov.br/meio_ambiente/index.php?idSecao=6&idCategoria=33)

What about the environment?

Besides all the care in the handling and storage of radioactive wastes, the Eletrobrás has a permanent monitoring of the levels of radiation around the power plants, which is accompanied by universities, research institutes, CNEN and the International Atomic Energy Agency. This program found that the operation of nuclear power plants did not affect the levels of radioactivity of the environment.
Before the first nuclear power plant in Brazil started in operation, in 1985, the Laboratory of Environmental Monitoring of Electronuclear measured the levels of natural radioactivity and conducted studies about flora and fauna in the area of influence of the Power Stations. The results of these studies provide the comparison with data obtained today, in samples collected regularly from sea water, rain, soil, beach sand, algae, fish, milk and air. This work found out that the operation of the power plants in more than twenty years didn’t cause any significant impact on the environment. A team of biologists, physicists and chemists, highly specialized, executes continuous programs of environmental monitoring and sends the results to the national and international supervisory bodies.

(http://www.eletronuclear.gov.br/meio_ambiente/index.php?idSecao=6&idCategoria=34)

Is it care enough? Is there any other technical solution?

After all these tests and monitoring the point is: is it care enough? The Brazilian people are concerned about it. There are 15 tons of nuclear wastes inside of those special pools. If something goes wrong, the disaster will be huge. So, why don’t they just send them away? This is one possible technical solutions being discussed at the moment. The president of the Eletrobrás, the company which runs the power plants, is planning to offer money to any Brazilian city wishing to keep the nuclear waste. If a city wants to do so, a special building will be built there for the storage and monitoring. And then the city council will receive a monthly payment for that. However, it is still just a plan.
Another possible solution, much more effective than the first one, is to bury the waste. But where could they bury it? Similarly to the first solution, any Brazilian city wishing to have it underground will receive a monthly payment. Of course that the ideal place for the construction of an underground deposit of atomic waste must be stable. An earthquake would be able to rip the drums full of radioactive waste. And the impermeability of the rock is even more important. So many geologic researches are being done to find out where the suitable places are. Some scientists suggest bringing the wastes to the ‘Serra do Cachimbo’, a hill in the State of Pará, where there are already holes of 300 meters deep covered with concrete. That would be a perfect solution, but a group of Indians made a protest and the government decided not to do it. An absurd because the waste buried there does not provide any risk.

What is the government doing?

The radioactive waste is a problem that is dealt in a provisional way by the government. It is said that this problem is not yet solved, but it does not worry for at least 500 years. There are two warehouses storing the wastes and the third one is being built at the moment by the government. The first one is 76% full and the second one is already 93% full. But the remaining space of those two together is enough to store the waste until 2018, when the third warehouse (called ‘The Last Deposit’) will be already built. The ‘Last Deposit’ will be able to store the wastes until the end of the power plants lifetime.
And the government wants to take the final responsibility of the wastes. It wants to make a company managed by the Ministry of Science and Technology to administrate the low and medium radioactivity wastes generated by the power plants. Those types of wastes today occupy a total of about 2180 thousand cubic meters.

Financial effects

The construction of the ‘Last Deposit’ started in July 2006 when the Brazilian Ministry of the Environment authorized the project. In this construction phase, the project is generating, on average, 200 jobs. After being concluded, fifteen people will be employed as security guards and warehouse staff.
That is a little improvement but every little helps. The number of unemployed people in Brazil is huge and 200 temporary jobs plus 15 permanent jobs is a good thing for them.
Also there are 2,084 people working on the whole station (directors and employees). My brother-in-law is one of those, he works in the public relations area. He said that he is very happy with his job and guaranteed me that we don’t have to worry about the nuclear wastes and with any kind of contamination. Well, I believe in him.

Conclusion

Angra 1 and 2 has protected the Brazilian environment and they totally care about our future. And there is a need for the people there to accept the nuclear power stations and do not worry about them.

References

[1] Greenpeace - Nuclear Power in Brazil. Retrieved July 17, 2007, from http://www.greenpeace.org.br/nuclear/?conteudo_id=630&sub_campanha=0&img=15
[2] Eletrobras - Environment and management of the nuclear waste. from http://www.eletronuclear.gov.br/meio_ambiente/index.php?idSecao=6&idCategoria=33
[3] Agencia Brasil - Royalties for cities wishing to store nuclear waste. Retrieved May 31, 2007, from: http://www.agenciabrasil.gov.br/noticias/2007/05/31/materia.2007-05-31.7744705371/view
[4] Portal Exame - The government action. Retrieved July 02, 2007, from: http://portalexame.abril.com.br/economia/m0132822.html
[5] Wikipedia - Monazite - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monazite