Transcript Environmental Geology

December 4, 2009
Men's genes 'may limit lifespan'
Men carry the seeds of their own destruction in
the genes present in their sperm, research
suggests. Scientists working on mice have
highlighted a specific gene that, although carried by
both sexes, appears to be active only in males.
They believe it allows males to grow bigger bodies but at the expense of their longevity.
The study, by Tokyo University of Agriculture,
appears in the journal Human Reproduction.
 Ch. 16 (wastes) & 17 (water pollution)
Types of Radioactive Waste
 Low Level
 from hospitals, labs and
industry
 paper, rags, tools, clothing,
filters
% by
Volume
 Transuranic (intermediate)
 resins, chemical sludges,
reactor components
 High Level
 spent fuel, nuclear
weapons
% by
radioactivity
Fuel:
56,000 MT
Defense: 11,000 MT
Total:
67,000 MT
How is HLRW Stored?
 Liquid
 Solid
 Vitrification
 Synroc
ceramic Synroc
Management of Wastes
 Long term options (potential problems?)
 bury in ocean floor
 launch into space
 put in polar ice sheets
 subduction zones
 bedrock caverns
• ‘delay-and-decay’
Underground Storage
 Multiple Barrier Concept
 Host rock
• stable geology
• low porosity & permeability, unfractured
– e.g., granite, basalt, tuffs, shale, salt domes
 Engineered barriers
• canisters, shielding, backfill
 Solid waste form
• vitrified or ceramic form reduces mobility
Why Yucca Mountain?
• Dry climate, remote location, stable geology, deep
water table, welded tuffs, Nevada Test Site (NTS)
• Underground repository must safely isolate highly
radioactive nuclear waste for at least 10,000 years.
3-D image of YM with tunnels
Perforated
Sheet
YM Geologic Cross Section
Water table ▼
Seepage Studies
T. Kneafsey
 Capillarity and evaporation
 Boiling and drying
 Fracture sealing
S. Finsterle
J. Birkholzer