Radioactive pollution facts

Term radioactive pollution refers to the introduction of one or many radioactive substances into our living environment (land, air and water).

Radioactive pollution is mostly a result of human activity, and has its origin in radioactive waste (mostly coming from nuclear power plants).

Nuclear waste remains radioactive for more than 5,000 years meaning that radioactive pollution has long-term effects, and isolating it for such a long period is anything but easy.

The worst cases of radioactive pollution in our planet occurred at the end of the World War two, after two atomic bombs were dropped on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The radiation effect and a resulting cancer took millions of lives in Japan.

In recent times, radioactive pollution is mostly the result of nuclear power plant accidents such as Fukushima and Chernobyl nuclear disasters.

The radioactive pollution has extremely harmful effect on human health because of variety of radioactive gases, liquids or particles.

The levels of radioactive pollution need to be constantly monitored and measured in nuclear power plants in order to avoid nuclear disaster.

Radioactive pollutants can enter our body through ingestion, inhalation, absorption, or injection.

Exposure to large quantities of radioactive material always leads to death. This is because high levels of radiation destroy the cells in our body and cause cancer.

People that work in uranium mines and nuclear power plants are being continuously exposed to radioactive pollution and therefore require protective clothing to avoid being contaminated by radiation.

Radioactive pollution has been linked with genetic defects in children and grandchildren of people that were at some point of life being exposed to radioactive pollutants.

World could decrease the global levels of radioactive pollution by switching from nuclear power to other energy sources such as renewable energy.

Reusing old nuclear fuel is also one of the ways to decrease the level of radioactive pollution.

Some scientists have even suggested that the best possible solution to deal with nuclear waste would be its disposal into space. This, however, could easily result in disaster if, for instance, there would to occur the failure of the launch vehicle.

Illegal dumping of nuclear waste could lead to massive increase of radioactive pollution in the world. This issue is certainly in need of very strict regulations.

Nuclear waste pollution issue facts

Nuclear power isn't connected with harmful greenhouse gases, and this is one of the main reasons why many people still support nuclear power as one of the best solutions to cut global fossil fuels usage. The newer nuclear power plants have showed to be very reliable in delivering the energy, and are also operating with maximum safety measures meaning that there's almost a zero chance for new Chernobyl accident. Still, despite all of this nuclear energy sector still hasn't solved one of the most important issues, namely the nuclear waste issue.

Nuclear waste is radioactive for around 5000 years, and as such presents not only a big environmental but also a big threat to our health in form of nuclear waste pollution. Nuclear waste needs to be safely stored, and isolated from the surrounding environment in order to avoid the damage.

Since many countries around the globe are determined to add more nuclear power to their energy grid nuclear energy waste issue has become extremely important. For instance, EU will promote underground storage as the safest option for storing nuclear waste.

The additional problem with the nuclear waste issue is also the fact that very few countries across the globe have well-established programmes to implement disposal of fuel and waste from nuclear power plants.

World needs to quickly solve the nuclear waste issue because it wouldn't be morally right to leave this issue for our future generations. As the old saying goes the one(s) who have started the mess should also finish it.

Many scientists agree that deep underground storage is the safest option for storing nuclear waste but the world still faces many scientific and engineering challenges that will need to be overcome prior to actually using this method such as waste container design, the stability of host rock and an adequate measures to monitor and retrieve the waste in case of catastrophic leakages. Of course this will also be connected with huge costs.

But in any case, regardless of differences in opinions, this issue needs to be resolved as soon as possible. On top of so many different environmental problems the last thing this world needs right now is to worry about the safety of nuclear waste disposal.