The safe management of radioactive wastes is of paramount importance in gaining both governmental and societal support for nuclear energy. The scope of this new textbook is to provide a comprehensive perspective on all types of radioactive wastes as to how they are created, classified, characterized, and disposed.Written to emphasize how geology and radionuclide chemistry impact waste management, this book is primarily designed for engineers who have little background in geology with low-level wastes, decommissioning wastes, high-level wastes and spent nuclear fuel.This textbook provides the most up-to-date information available on waste management in several countries. The content of this work includes transporting radioactive materials to disposal facilities. The textbook cites numerous case studies to illustrate past practices, current methodologies and to provide insights on how radioactive wastes may be managed in the future. An international perspective on waste management is also provided to help the readers better understand the diversity in approaches while highlighting what many countries have in common. Review questions for classroom use are provided at the end of each chapter.Related Link(s)

Focused attention by world leaders is needed to address the substantial challenges posed by disposal of spent nuclear fuel from reactors and high-level radioactive waste from processing such fuel. The biggest challenges in achieving safe and secure storage and permanent waste disposal are societal, although technical challenges remain. Disposition of radioactive wastes in a deep geological repository is a sound approach as long as it progresses through a stepwise decision-making process that takes advantage of technical advances, public participation, and international cooperation. Written for concerned citizens as well as policymakers, this book was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and waste management organizations in eight other countries.

A fascinating and authoritative account of the controversies and possibilities surrounding nuclear waste disposal, providing expert discussion in down-to-earth language.

This book focuses on nuclear engineering education in the post-Fukushima era. It was edited by the organizers of the summer school held in August 2011 in University of California, Berkeley, as part of a collaborative program between the University of Tokyo and UC Berkeley. Motivated by the particular relevance and importance of social-scientific approaches to various crucial aspects of nuclear technology, special emphasis was placed on integrating nuclear science and engineering with social science. The book consists of the lectures given in 2011 summer school and additional chapters that cover developments in the past three years since the accident. It provides an arena for discussions to find and create a renewed platform for engineering practices, and thus nuclear engineering education, which are essential in the post-Fukushima era for nurturing nuclear engineers who need to be both technically competent and trusted in society.

During the next several years, decisions are expected to be made in several countries on the further development and implementation of the geological disposition option. The Board on Radioactive Waste Management (BRWM) of the U.S. National Academies believes that informed and reasoned discussion of relevant scientific, engineering and social issues can-and should-play a constructive role in the decision process by providing information to decision makers on relevant technical and policy issues. A BRWM-initiated project including a workshop at Irvine, California on November 4-5, 1999, and subsequent National Academies' report to be published in spring, 2000, are intended to provide such information to national policy makers both in the U.S. and abroad. To inform national policies, it is essential that experts from the physical, geological, and engineering sciences, and experts from the policy and social science communities work together. Some national programs have involved social science and policy experts from the beginning, while other programs have only recently recognized the importance of this collaboration. An important goal of the November workshop is to facilitate dialogue between these communities, as well as to encourage the sharing of experiences from many national programs. The workshop steering committee has prepared this discussion for participants at the workshop. It should elicit critical comments and help identify topics requiring in-depth discussion at the workshop. It is not intended as a statement of findings, conclusions, or recommendations. It is rather intended as a vehicle for stimulating dialogue among the workshop participants. Out of that dialogue will emerge the findings, conclusions, and recommendations of the National Academies' report.

Solid waste was already a problem long before water and air pollution issues attracted public attention. Historically the problem associated with solid waste can be dated back to prehistoric days. Due to the invention of new products, technologies and services the quantity and quality of the waste have changed over the years. Waste characteristics not only depend on income, culture and geography but also on a society's economy and, situations like disasters that affect that economy. There was tremendous industrial activity in Europe during the industrial revolution. The twentieth century is recognized as the American Century and the twenty-first century is recognized as the Asian Century in which everyone wants to earn ‘as much as possible’. After Asia the currently developing Africa could next take the center stage. With transitions in their economies many countries have also witnessed an explosion of waste quantities. Solid waste problems and approaches to tackling them vary from country to country. For example, while efforts are made to collect and dispose hospital waste through separate mechanisms in India it is burnt together with municipal solid waste in Sweden. While trans-boundary movement of waste has been addressed in numerous international agreements, it still reaches developing countries in many forms. While thousands of people depend on waste for their livelihood throughout the world, many others face problems due to poor waste management. In this context solid waste has not remained an issue to be tackled by the local urban bodies alone. It has become a subject of importance for engineers as well as doctors, psychologist, economists, and climate scientists and any others. There are huge changes in waste management in different parts of the world at different times in history. To address these issues, an effort has been made by the authors to combine their experience and bring together a new text book on the theory and practice of the subject covering the important relevant literature at the same time.

Discussing the future of energy production and management in a changing world, this book contains the proceedings of the first international conference on Energy Production and Management in the 21st Century – The Quest for Sustainable Energy. Developed societies require an ever increasing amount of energy resources, which creates complex technological challenges. The idea is to compare conventional energy sources, particularly hydrocarbons, with a number of other ways of producing energy, emphasising new technological developments. The challenge in many cases is the conversion of new sources of energy into useful forms, while finding efficient ways of storing and distributing energy. Energy policies and management are of primary importance to achieving sustainability, and need to be consistent with recent advances made in energy production and distribution. The book will also discuss the energy use of industrial processes, including the imbedded energy contents of materials, particularly those in the built environment. Energy production, distribution and usage, result in environmental risks which need to be better understood. They are part of the energy economics and relate to human environmental health as well as ecosystems behaviour. Topics covered include: Energy production; Energy management; Energy policies; Energy and economic growth; Energy efficiency; Hydropower; Wind energy; Solar energy; Nuclear energy; Biomass and biofuels; Energy storage; Hydrocarbons; Gas production; Processing of oil and gas; Energy conversion; Energy savings; Energy in the built environment; Energy networks; Pipelines; Energy balance; Energy economics; Heat, pumping systems; Environmental risk; Safety management; Emissions; C-O2 separation and storage; Imbedded energy; Energy and transport; Energy use in industry; Energy transmission and distribution; Energy industry efficiency; Energy security; Training in energy and sustainability.

Encompasses all aspects of radioactive waste management from waste minimization to disposal and sets out objectives and principles for the protection of human health and the environment, present and future. (Please note: this publication is superseded by SF-1)

A major problem confronting the United States in the 21st century is the 20th century's legacy of toxic waste. The weapons that fought the Cold War, the facilities that manufactured those weapons, and the factories that fueled a prosperous economy left behind a trail of pollution. Seven previously unpublished essays examine the problem of toxic waste in the United States, what is being done about it, and what should be done about it. W. Henry Lambright and Agnes Gereben Schaefer, Dianne Rahm, Sevim Ahmedov, Charles Davis, Robert A. Simons and Kimberly Winson, Santa Falcone, and Toddi A. Steelman and JoAnn Carmin write about such issues as community based environmental management, regional EPA offices and the regulation of hazardous wastes, "brownfields," nuclear and chemical weapons destruction, environmental contamination and the nuclear weapons complex, the privatization of nuclear waste clean-up, and WIPP, Yucca, and hazardous waste transport. The future of humanity demands careful thought about these matters. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.