Exposure to radioactivity is not a new phenomenon: Jewelry workers painting luminous dials on watches in the 1920s were exposed to radium, a naturally occurring radioactive element, until its dangers were identified; in recent decades, homeowners have worried about radon, a naturally occurring radioactive gas that can adversely affect both their health and the resale value of their homes. Today, we must worry as well about the enormous quantities of anthropogenic radioactive materials that have accumulated as waste in this country and worldwide since the 1940s, largely because of the nuclear weapons programs and nuclear power plants. Some of the anthropogenic material is still valuable—for example, as fuel for nuclear reactors. Vast amounts of it, however, consist of waste. Radioactive waste, by definition, is unneeded material that contains unstable elements that decay by emitting alpha, beta or gamma emissions. This article describes the sources of this waste, the types of waste that are of concern and the amounts estimated to be present in the US.
Skip Nav Destination
Article navigation
June 1997
June 01 1997
Radioactive Waste: The Size of the Problem
In 50 years of producing electrical power and weapons from nuclear fuel, the US has accumulated millions of cubic meters and tens of billions of curies of radioactive waste.
John F. Ahearne
John F. Ahearne
Sigma Xi Center, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina
Search for other works by this author on:
Physics Today 50 (6), 24–29 (1997);
Citation
John F. Ahearne; Radioactive Waste: The Size of the Problem. Physics Today 1 June 1997; 50 (6): 24–29. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.881763
Download citation file:
PERSONAL SUBSCRIPTION
Purchase an annual subscription for $25. A subscription grants you access to all of Physics Today's current and backfile content.
Sign In
You could not be signed in. Please check your credentials and make sure you have an active account and try again.
Citing articles via
The lessons learned from ephemeral nuclei
Witold Nazarewicz; Lee G. Sobotka
FYI science policy briefs
Lindsay McKenzie; Jacob Taylor