A Beginner's guide to Nuclear Energy and it's Annoying Little Brother Nuclear Waste

In the late 19th to early 20th century, following a period of belief in the scientific community that very few fundamental principles of physics remained to be discovered came a series of (surprise surprise) discoveries of fundamental principles of physics. One of these was the famous equivalence of mass and energy: E=∆mc2. This finding led to another monumental discovery: nuclear fission. By which I mean the idea that a nucleus of certain heavy elements could be split in to two fragments through its capture of a neutron, a process which would then produce another 2-3 neutrons. This meant that in stocks of heavy elements large enough, a chain reaction could be sustained that importantly resulted in an end product lighter than the original. This mass difference was accounted for in the form of nuclear energy.

So what?

The use of nuclear energy as a power source has some very important benefits. It's more economically viable than other forms of renewable energy because it is much easier to convert existing fossil fuel plants to nuclear plants. Also stocks of usable minerals in nuclear energy production if used with forms of reprocessing will outlast stocks of fossil fuels. But most importantly in this day and age where we're desperately trying to combat global climate change, nuclear energy is exceedingly low-carbon. 

However since the discovery that this energy was exploitable, it has been an issue of debate within and amongst governments, NGOs, and the general public. Why you may ask? Well mainly because it's really scary. The energy in nuclear materials can manifest as radiation, harmful waves that can cause cancer and organ failure; not only this, the weaponisation of this energy in the form of bombs, something that dominated politics of the latter half of the 20th century, and even in this modern day and age continue to be a worry, are no joking matter. However a slightly less explosive issue is that of the radioactive byproducts of nuclear energy production: nuclear waste. Nuclear waste can be toxic to humans for timescales potentially up to a million years and with nuclear energy being such a new field of study, it's not something we have a whole lot of experience in dealing with. However in typical human fashion, in our scramble to create a cheap, low-carbon fuel source, we've neglected to make sure we have plans in place to deal with its consequences, and nuclear waste isn't a consequence we can just walk away from.

This issue of waste is one I'd like to discuss in my blog not only because I find it interesting, but also  because I don't hear or see it talked about in nearly enough depth. In the next ten weeks I'll explore the different elements that characterise the issue and hopefully give you, the reader a better idea of the science and story behind the nuclear energy debate.