How much nuclear waste has been disposed of into the sea or shipped off into poorer countries?

Question

And is not being (or has not been) delt with properly and responsibly and is not held on site?

If so, who does/did this, where, when and why? How can we stop a future problem with regards to containers eroding in these remote areas?

Please add your sources with links, thank you!

Answer 1

Thousands of tons.  Naval ships in particular used to dump their waste in the ocean.  The US and most other countries gave this up long ago, but the Soviet Union kept it up.  After the fall of the Soviets, when their navy rusted, they just sank a lot of ships with radioactive material still aboard.

Answer 2

1061 trillion tons.

Answer 3

US is not doing it anymore, the amount of nuclear waste that US generates in 20 years will be able to cover whole football feild so there is really not that much nuclear waste!!!  

Answer 4

Nuclear power plants have come a long way, especially in America. The facts about nuclear power are pretty simple. There have been less injuries from nuclear power plants than from coal mines, oil wells, and windmills. Basically they used to be really safe, and current technologies have made them insanely safe. As for radioactive waste, it really isn't that big of a concern, since we are currently building a waste site in Yucca Mountain, where it can be stored safely forever without damaging anything. Radioactive waste is only dangerous to humans over a very long period of time. If you saw radioactive waste on the ground you could pick it up and move it somewhere else with no consequences. It doesn't matter how much has been poorly disposed of, but what does matter is that now we have a safe place to dispose it, and we have the technology to have safe plants, it would only take 440 plants to create power for all of America. (something like that at least) the biggest concern with disposal is water contamination, and Yucca mountain is in the desert, so, no water. Nuclear power and Nuclear waste are not things to be afraid of, they could make our country much more self reliant, and making coal mines a thing of the past would be great. too many people have died in coal mines, and too much blood is spilled over oil wells.  

Answer 5

I know for a fact that nuclear waste is being disposed of. They've even been using depleted uranium over in the Iraq War. The U.S. and the Soviet Union are responsible for nuclear fallout. Don't you remember Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Or how about The Chernobyl accident? As far as actually dumping nuclear waste in foreign countries, I don't know for certain if any government is responsible, but I certainly wouldn't put it past them.

As far as dealing with future problems, we can do what France is doing. They've found ways now to recycle nuclear waste and to use the spent rods again. The reason why Chernobyl happened is because that plant didn't have a containment building and a proper cooling system. The Russians violated numerous environmental regulations when they experimented with nuclear energy.

We can also do other things that France is doing. All incandescent bulbs have been banned over there and replaced with florescent bulbs. They've even switched out all the bulbs in the Eiffel Tower.

We can even do what the Germans are doing. That would be to invest heavily in solar energy. In Hamburg all the busses there now run off hydrogen. The Germans also have invested heavily in wind energy. As far as alternative energy goes, I'd say Germany, New Zealand,  and France lead the way.

Did you know that almost all the energy produced in the country of New Zealand is hydroelectric? The rest is geothermal. New Zealand is also the world's first "nuclear free zone." in Nuclear Free Zones not even nuclear submarines are allowed to moor up in their ports.

Spain and England are catching on, too. I think it's fantastic that England is building the world's first tidal plant. France, Russia, and Canada right now are the only countries that have tidal energy, but Britain is even taking it a step further.