Nuclear waste reduction: Polymers designed to mop up radioactive isotopes
Friday, November 27, 2009 - 19:28
in Physics & Chemistry
Nuclear power could solve our energy problems but it has rather nasty by-products: radioactive waste. Not only the disposal of the old core rods but also reactor operation results in a large amount of low-level waste, especially contaminated cooling water. Scientists have now developed a new method to reduce the amount of this radioactive waste considerably. They use small beads consisting of a special polymer which “fishes” the radioactivity out of the water.