Fri. Mar 29th, 2024

A bigger tragedy has been averted when a Chinese nuclear power plant close to Hong Kong had five broken fuel rods number 1 reactor spurring concerns over the facility’s safety but thankfully, no radioactivity leaked.

According to data released by Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the radiation rose inside the No. 1 reactor of the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant existing in Guangdong province but barriers worked as planned and the contamination could be contained.

The Taishan plant, owned by China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group and Electricite de France, began commercial operations in 2018 with an additional reactor in 2019.

Experts have said that the concerned fuel rods broke and leaked radioactive gases such as Noble gases like xenon and krypton or the particles of cesium, strontium and other radioactive elements, produced during nuclear fission.

The French co-owner of the plant too reported increased “noble gases” on Monday, causing Hong Kong Government officials to inspect and watch closely.

There are in total 60,000 fuel rods of the reactors and protective envelopes on about five of these got damaged but the Ministry said that such damage was inevitable due to manufacturing issues.

It has also clarified that the facility was well equipped to deal even higher levels of damage to cope and increase in radiation from the reactor coolant was within the “allowable range”.

According to statement by International Atomic Energy Agency, the reactor’s “containment integrity is maintained” and “there is no environmental concern”.

China and Nuclear energy: A favorable dependence

Nuclear derived power is fairly used in China and the energy-desperate Nation is building more reactors at a time when other governments have begun inclining more towards solar, wind and other alternatives due to risks involved.

Chinese leaders consider nuclear power a powerful tool to curb air pollution and also lessening the demand for imports of oil and gas.

According to the World Nuclear Association, it currently possesses 50 operable reactors and have 18 more in pipeline.

This is not the first instance where a nuclear accident could be forestalled with care and will definitely not be the last. The onus to protect this resource lies with the countries’ leaders, scientists and of course IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency).

Nuclear fission finds varied uses in the world, from clean energy production to even Covid-19 detection technique developed by IAEA recently, much of the peaceful use of an equally violent resource.

With nuclear energy, comes great responsibility. Nuclear waste always needs to be carefully dealt with.

As per government records, India generates around four tonnes of nuclear waste (or spent fuel) per gigawatt (GW) annually which gets accommodated across various sites carefully or the proposed “deep geological repositories”.

understand how recycling works for nuclear waste

Collection and dumping is fine but managing the waste is a tedious and risky task. That is why a huge number of fuel assemblies containing millions of fuel rods are lying idle, waiting for their closure.

In India, nuclear waste is dealt via The Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal if Radioactive) Rules 1987, promulgated under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962.

Understanding the barely understood Radioactive waste:

Radioactive waste can come from lots of sources be it nuclear power plants, fuel cells apart from power plants, mining and processing of uranium ore or the medical-Industrial-research waste, that needs to be treated and processed before settling permanently.

Radioactive waste can take any form: gas, liquid or solid form, and the level of radioactivity can vary depending on the source. It can remain radioactive for a few hours or several months or even hundreds of thousands of years.

‘Its radioactive hazard potential reduces with time depending on the half-lives of radionuclide present in the waste’.

It is also interesting to note that not all nuclear wastes are hazardous or difficult to manage when compared to other toxic industrial wastes, according to BARC.

In India, the spent fuel is not considered as a waste as the close fuel cycle technology, the subsequent reprocessing and recycling of the spent fuel ensures the highest level of safety possible and no waste in any physical form is released or disposed in the environment unless exempted.

Four basic tactics are used under waste handling philosophy in India:

  • Delay and Delay
  • Dilute and Disperse
  • Concentrate and Contain
  • Recycle and Reuse

Segregation of nuclear waste, characterization, handling, treatment, conditioning and monitoring prior to final disposal compose the effective management.

“The spent fuel, as such is not disposed. Spent fuel generated from NPPs is cooled for a minimum period of 5 years before taking it up for reprocessing. During the reprocessing of spent fuel for recovering of valuable elements, the very small quantity of radioactive fission products is isolated.”

“The waste is immobilized in suitable glass matrix in solid through vitrification and stored in interim storage facility for initial cooling and surveillance prior to their eventual emplacement at a geological disposal facility,”

Indian atomic centres have displayed an excellent track record for safe management of radioactive waste for more than five decades.

But since these occupy a small area, there is always an attempt to find a long-term storage along with possible recycling of some of this “waste” into usable fuel but the authorities pay negligible attention to its settlement.

Many new Gen-IV design reactors available in market, can help recycle the used radioactive fuel and even can be configured to do so.

Due to authorities’ inability in US, several nuclear plant operators have sued the government for breach of contract for creation of nuclear waste fund depositing over $40 billion.

But for any of the options of dealing with nuclear waste, incentivizing the waste recycling is utmost important. The policy support for better research in this regard is a boon.

By Alaina Ali Beg

I am a lover of all arts and therefore can dream myself in all places where the World takes me. I am an avid animal lover and firmly believes that Nature is the true sorcerer.

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