Write a note on the following :
Radio active wastes and its disposal.

Explanation

i) Initially, nuclear energy was hailed as a non-polluting way for generating electricity.
ii) It was realised that the use of nuclear energy has two very serious inherent problems. The first is accidental lcakage, as occurred in the Three Mile Island and Chernoby incidents and the second is safe disposal or radioactive wastes.
(iii) Radiation, that is given off by nuclear waste is extremely damaging to biological organisms, because it causes mutations to occur at a very high rate.
(iv) At high doses, nuclear radiation is lethal but al lower doses, it creates various disorders, the most frequent of all being cancer.
(v) Therefore, it has been recommended that storage of nuclear waste, after sufficient pre-treatment, should be done in suitabley shielded containers buried within the rocks. about 500 m deep below the earth.s surface.