Question: what is nuclear waste and what do you find intresting about it?

Matt Gunther answered on 13 Jun 2012:

Well, nuclear waste is nasty rubbish produced by nuclear reactors, just like carbon dioxide is nasty waste produced from energy sources such as coal, oil and gas.

Nuclear waste is created when you split the atoms in a fissile material, which is typically uranium. Upon splitting uranium you make small and lighter atoms. Some of these lighter atoms are dangerously radioactive and are not really useful for nuclear power production. So this waste is removed from the reactor, cooled (as it’s very very hot) and “frozen” in glass (this is known as vitrification). The glass stops these nasty atoms from moving around and blocks the radiation which they emit. This waste is then stored within large stainless steel cannisters to protect it from the environment and minimise damage from being dropped etc..

The reason why I’m interested in it is in much the same way your car rusts because of water and salts within the air, so to do these steel nuclear waste cannisters. As a lot of these containers are stored near the sea, there is a lot of salt and moisture within the air.

It’s my job to figure out how much this “marine aerosol” can damage these containers and what we can do – if anything – to prevent it.