@@ -3,20 +3,21 @@ layout: calc
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title : How much nuclear waste is there?
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category : physics
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description : >
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- How much nuclear waste has been made in the USA? If you were to stack it up on a
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- football field, how high would the nuclear waste be?
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+ How much nuclear waste has been made in the USA? If you were to stack it up on a
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+ football field, how high would the nuclear waste be?
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author : nick
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image : " /img/all-waste-fps_sm.jpg"
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date : 2023-02-19
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byline : true
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- factlets :
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- - All the spent nuclear fuel in the USA would fit on a football field
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- in fully-shielded dry casks stacked 135 meters (148 yards) high.
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- - All the spent nuclear fuel in the USA would fit on a football field
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- stacked as pellets 3 meter (3.3 yards) high
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- - All the fission products in spent nuclear fuel in the USA would fit on a
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- football field stacked 15 cm (5.9 inches) high
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+ factlets :
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+ - All the spent nuclear fuel in the USA would fit on a football field
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+ in fully-shielded dry casks stacked 135 meters (148 yards) high.
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+ - All the spent nuclear fuel in the USA would fit on a football field
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+ stacked as pellets 3 meter (3.3 yards) high
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+ - All the fission products in spent nuclear fuel in the USA would fit on a
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+ football field stacked 15 cm (5.9 inches) high
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---
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+
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<div class =" row " >
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<div class =" col-lg-8 " markdown =" 1 " >
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@@ -28,7 +29,7 @@ details are being considered. This page attempts to reconcile this situation by
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doing the math and giving a verifiable answer to how much waste there is in the
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USA relative to a football field.
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- (If you just want to know what nuclear waste is and what's to be done about it, go
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+ (If you just want to know what nuclear waste is and what's to be done about it, go
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to [ our nuclear waste page] ({% link waste.md %}).)
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# How many dry casks could store all US waste?
@@ -60,11 +61,9 @@ as of 2023 stacked up on a football field in dry casks storage containers
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In motion:
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- <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/J1QydqOFZF4"
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- title="Waste storage casks stacked" allow="accelerometer; autoplay;
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- clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture"
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- allowfullscreen></iframe >
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-
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+ <div class =" ratio ratio-16x9 " >
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+ {% include youtube.html id="J1QydqOFZF4" title="Waste storage casks stacked" %}
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+ </div >
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# How much actual used fuel material is in those casks?
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@@ -75,7 +74,7 @@ look at the fuel pellets themselves on the football field.
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Given the facts below, we can estimate that there are 93,220 tonnes of initial uranium
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discharged. The oxygen in UO₂ weighs something, so this comes out to 105.7e3 MT of UO2.
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- This is about 9.35 billion fuel pellets. You can fit 9600 fuel pellets between
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+ This is about 9.35 billion fuel pellets. You can fit 9600 fuel pellets between
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goal lines of a football field, and 5123 pellets between the sidelines. To fit all
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9.35 billion pellets, you'd have to stack them 191 levels high, which checks in as
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a ** stack of spent fuel pellets 3.0 meters tall** (3.3 yards/9.84 feet/118 inches).
@@ -98,7 +97,7 @@ As you may know, [used nuclear fuel is recyclable and can be used in breeder rea
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link recycling.md %}). Only the fuel atoms that have actually fissioned into fission
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products are truly spent. Typical US reactors do not recycle their used fuel (French ones
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do recycle theirs at least once). If we melt the used fuel pellets and recycle them,
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- only the fission products are left over.
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+ only the fission products are left over.
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Typical reactors get about 50 MWd/kg out of their fuel on average, which represents
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roughly 5% of the total nuclear energy in each pellet. The rest is regular U-238, which is
@@ -119,16 +118,16 @@ waste) in US used nuclear fuel as of 2023 stacked up on a football field.
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The following facts were used to derive the conclusions on this page.
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- * An American football field [ is 100 yards (91.44m )by 53.3 yards (48.8 m) between the
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+ - An American football field [ is 100 yards (91.44m )by 53.3 yards (48.8 m) between the
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goalposts] ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_football_field ) . The [ goal posts
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are] ( https://www.stack.com/a/the-dimensions-of-a-football-field/ ) 30 feet high and 18.5
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feet wide.
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- * [ The EIA says] ( https://www.eia.gov/nuclear/spent_fuel/ ) that, as of Dec 2017, there are
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- * 157,681 BWR discharged assemblies + 18,000/3.5 per year
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- * 119,198 PWR assemblies + 14,313/3.5 per year
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- * 80,000 MTU spent fuel + 9524/3.5 per year
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- * A typical PWR assembly has a 17x17 array of fuel pins
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- * A typical BWR assembly has a 10x10 array of fuel pins
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+ - [ The EIA says] ( https://www.eia.gov/nuclear/spent_fuel/ ) that, as of Dec 2017, there are
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+ - 157,681 BWR discharged assemblies + 18,000/3.5 per year
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+ - 119,198 PWR assemblies + 14,313/3.5 per year
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+ - 80,000 MTU spent fuel + 9524/3.5 per year
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+ - A typical PWR assembly has a 17x17 array of fuel pins
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+ - A typical BWR assembly has a 10x10 array of fuel pins
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For a typical spent fuel dry cask, we found good information on the Holtec HI-STORM 100.
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@@ -146,29 +145,27 @@ Conjugate](https://holtecinternational.com/innovation/technical-papers/an-overvi
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Info about the cask system, including all shielding:
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- * It can hold:
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- * 24 standard PWR assemblies, or
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- * 68 standard BWR assemblies
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- * Its outer diameter is 131 inches (3.3m)
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- * Its height is 231 inches (5.86 m)
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+ - It can hold:
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+ - 24 standard PWR assemblies, or
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+ - 68 standard BWR assemblies
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+ - Its outer diameter is 131 inches (3.3m)
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+ - Its height is 231 inches (5.86 m)
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- * Thus, we can estimate that in 2023, there are enough fuel assemblies to fill:
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- * 5819 dry casks with PWR assemblies
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- * 2697 dry casks with BWR assemblies
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- * Total casks: 8516
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+ - Thus, we can estimate that in 2023, there are enough fuel assemblies to fill:
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+ - 5819 dry casks with PWR assemblies
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+ - 2697 dry casks with BWR assemblies
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+ - Total casks: 8516
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As for the nuclear fuel pellets themselves:
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- * Uranium oxide mass density is about 10 grams/cm³
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- * A [ single pellet] ( https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/pellet-fuel.html )
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+ - Uranium oxide mass density is about 10 grams/cm³
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+ - A [ single pellet] ( https://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/basic-ref/glossary/pellet-fuel.html )
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is 3/8" OD and 5/8" high, (9.525e-3 m OD, 1.587e-2m high)
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- * Thus, the volume of a single pellet is 1.131e-6 m³
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- * The UO2 mass in a single pellet is about 11.3 grams
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- * The uranium elemental mass in a single fresh pellet is about 10.0 grams
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- * Typical PWRs and BWRs fission about 5-6% of their uranium atoms before being
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+ - Thus, the volume of a single pellet is 1.131e-6 m³
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+ - The UO2 mass in a single pellet is about 11.3 grams
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+ - The uranium elemental mass in a single fresh pellet is about 10.0 grams
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+ - Typical PWRs and BWRs fission about 5-6% of their uranium atoms before being
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discharged in the USA.
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</div >
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</div >
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