Which of the statements correctly describes the main reason why the long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste is considered to be high-risk?
A. High-level nuclear waste generates a lot of heat and poses a threat to life while it remains at high temperatures. The long-term storage facility must deal with the generated heat.
B. High-level nuclear waste is prone to undergo fission and create a nuclear explosion when left on its own for extended periods of time. Therefore, high-level nuclear waste should be kept under watch all the time.
C. High-level nuclear waste is radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years and remains harmful to all life for that duration. Long-term storage facilities must take this fact into consideration.
D. High-level nuclear waste requires specialized equipment to transport. Very few vehicles that can transport nuclear waste exist and improper transportation vehicles will leak radiation to the environment.
Please help I don't have much time D:
Are you doing AP Chem with k12?
D is true, but C is a better answer to the question. Reread the question.
The correct statement that describes the main reason why the long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste is considered to be high-risk is C. High-level nuclear waste is radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years and remains harmful to all life for that duration. Long-term storage facilities must take this fact into consideration.
To arrive at this answer, we need to consider the properties and characteristics of high-level nuclear waste. High-level nuclear waste is a byproduct of nuclear power generation or nuclear weapons production, and it contains highly radioactive materials. These radioactive materials emit ionizing radiation, which can pose significant health risks to living organisms.
The main reason for high-risk is the long-lived nature of the radioactive materials in high-level nuclear waste. Some of the radioactive isotopes present in nuclear waste can have half-lives of thousands or even millions of years. Consequently, they remain radioactive and dangerous to human health and the environment for an extended period.
This long-term radioactivity is what makes the long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste challenging. The storage facilities must ensure that the waste is isolated and contained effectively for hundreds of thousands of years without posing any risks to the surrounding environment or future generations. This necessitates the use of robust and secure containment structures that can withstand natural disasters, human error, and other potential threats.
Overall, the long-term storage of high-level nuclear waste is considered high-risk due to its long-lived radioactivity, which requires careful planning, design, and maintenance of storage facilities to ensure the protection of human health and the environment.