Nano-Biotechnology

Say Good Bye to Nuclear Waste!

Pac-Man to the rescue once again

By Gabriel Gache, Science News Editor

17th of January 2008, 10:15 GMT

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The method is called the 'Pac-Man' strategy

Uranium dioxide is the world's most common radioactive substance, alongside the natural uranium molecule. Most of this nuclear waste results in the nuclear reactors of the nuclear power plants,

during the process of nuclear fission, or nuclear fuel 'burning', which involves splitting the uranium atom through causing instability in the atomic nucleus, by bombarding it with a fast neutron particle. As the atom splits, a large amount of energy is being released in the form of heat, which is then converted into electric energy.

Depleted uranium cells are literally being buried underground, or stored into special facilities. Ok, so the nuclear waste in the storing facilities is at safe, but what about that deposited in improper locations? If the waste container is somehow damaged, there is the risk that it will leak into the ground, and possibly in the underground water deposits, increasing the hazard of radiation poisoning amongst human and other animals.

The problem with nuclear fuel waste such as the uranium dioxide is that the uranium atom creates very strong chemical bonds with the oxygen. This means that the resulted substance is basically extremely stable over long periods of time and has low affinity towards reacting with other compounds.

A potassium atom inside an organic molecule could break the bond between the uranium and oxygen atoms inside the uranium dioxide compound

Nevertheless, a team of researchers from the U.K. argue that they have found a way of breaking the bond between the uranium and oxygen molecule. Atomic uranium in a free state is relatively highly radioactive due to the heavy nucleus, but is still less active than uranium dioxide. The 'Pac-Man' strategy, as they call it, involves using a silicon substance in order to break the bond between uranium and oxygen.

However, the resulted compound would no be stable enough to be disposed safely into the environment. The same method may be applied to extract radioactive pollutants from water and other different substances contaminated with high levels of uranium pollution.

According to William Evans from the University of California, the new model designed by the U.K. researchers at the the University of Edinburgh could also be used to develop a new way of making relatively non-reactive substances interact with special compounds in order to force them to degrade in natural conditions.

TAGS:

uranium | fission | nuclear waste | radioactivity | pollution

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