Contaminated Things (Low-Level Wastes)

A detailed description of what low-level nuclear wastes are and where they come from including the spent resin beads and medical procedures. Discussion of the water which goes through a nuclear power plant. How much of the waste exists and how does that amount compare to other wastes made by human society. How low-level wastes are stored in the US and across the world. Future of nuclear waste storage.

[@ssbphotography]

7:28 "The real danger is that someone might come there, open it up and EAT it.......which would be stupiiid."

[@matthewbrightman3398]

And therefore highly likely in America

[@BPJJohn]

If he said Retarded it would have been XD.

[@DumbSkippy]

Brilliant series of videos. I'm learning so much ! Thank you times a million !

[@mzflighter6905]

Totally agree! I hope this channel gets some more attention

[@Ryterick]

Check-out safe ThoriumElectricUSA.com no government funding - replace closed coal and out-dated nuclear power plants - no CO2 release.

[@dpmagicalsyrup6733]

I just love the simple and linear way you explain things, considering and reporting everything that is relevant.

[@justgivemethetruth]

I really appreciate the level of detail that Prof Ruzak goes to. This is a fantastic channel.

[@k0k0z]

I just found you and the videos are amazing, just the explanations I've always searched for, wish you thaught me during my years!

[@davidelliott5843]

Bearing in mind the costs of active waste disposal why do the utilities not check each item of waste before disposal? We have seen how ordinary waste recycling can separate metals plastics etc. It should be easy enough for nuclear waste to separate with Geiger counters and automatic sorters. By the way, coal ash is radioactive. In a nuclear plant it would be classed as low level active waste..

[@michaelstanko5896]

David Elliott I toured a local landfill a few years ago and they have giant radiation detectors that "scan" each garage truck before it is allowed to enter and dump the trash off. I had no idea this was a thing until I went on the tour. Pretty cool stuff.

[@sarcasmo57]

Hi, I'm the guy that added his squeaky pen sound effect. AMA.

[@erikkovacs3097]

You. Are. A. LEGEND!

[@karlbrundage7472]

Will you now admit to being the source of Fartgate?

[@thekaiser4333]

Death to Amerika! This sound drives me up the wall.

[@onetwothree4148]

How many baby seals did you have to club to make all those sounds?

[@257796]

Did you do any work with "picture pages" back in the day? That was an amazing pen

[@circeciernova1712]

I've found that the general public vastly underestimates the radioactive byproducts of coal-fired power plants... much easier to deal with a more predictable power source in nuclear energy imo, where there is not the same exposure risk for the nearby population.

[@MrSlapdash243]

This guy can write neater on glass in reverse than I can on a sheet of paper.

[@stclair8888]

Fabulous Stuff Professor Ruzic! Makes me want to be a Nuclear Engineer. Can you teach us about EMP Electro Magnetic Pulse?

[@RobertCraft-re5sf]

I remember one of those resin bead tanks was the cause of an incident similar to Three Mile Island (without a meltdown) I read about it in the book Atomic Accidents by James Mahaffey. Highly recommend.

[@nemodot]

what is most amazing to me is how does he write from right to left so smoothly.

[@sebastiangoette339]

He doesn‘t. He writes on a glass or sth. half transparent and it is filmed from behind. So that you can read it the video is mirrowed/flipped vertically. So actually he is writing normal with his right hand but because the video has been flipped (so you can read it) it looks like he writes with left the other way.

[@nemodot]

@@sebastiangoette339 but i can see him going from his right to his left.

[@AlejandroTaylorEscribano]

So much practice

[@soreff]

Great video! I'd be curious if the total number of curies of radioisotopes in e.g. the agricultural waste winds up larger than the number in the low level nuclear/medical radioactive waste.

[@jeebusk]

Helpful videos, it would be nice to discuss the level of radiation. Like at what point is it no longer low-level waste?

[@tomkelly8827]

Once a nuclear power plant is decomissioned, there is suddenly a whole lot of low level nuclear waste from the soil and buildings and everything that is there. I hear that the metals can be recycled at a special recycler for use in another nuclear power plant later. That is a good thing. Mining uranium creates a whole lot of low level nuclear waste as well. It is a real issue in Northern Saskatchewan, Canada

[@REVOLUTIONS51]

Canada should be more worried about Yellowknife gold mine ahahah

[@randyhavener1851]

Thanks again David! If I were retired, I would drive over from Springfield, just to attend your classes!!! Does it ever frustrate you to see the media sensationalize minor nuclear events and blow them completely out of proportion?

[@betafractal9395]

This guy is awesome!

[@ElevateResumeDesign]

Give it up he’s the Zen Master ✊🏿

[@jimbo92107]

Professor Ruzic's series should be seen by everybody, especially members of congress.

[@justgivemethetruth]

9:30 - So, you say they monitor radiativity of the groundwater in these low-level radioactive dump-sites. Is it not a little late if you measure groundwater contamination, and then what do you do about it

[@ThomasHaberkorn]

how do the well publicised caesium-137, iodine-131 and strontium-90 fit into the nuclear waste categories (if at all) ?

[@nickl9698]

Is it just me, or does Illinois EnergyProf sound like Bob Saget as a nuclear engineer? half expecting him to end the lecture with, "and that, kids, is how I met your mother." :)

[@LittleVolii]

i love this funny man and his squeaky marker

[@goiterlanternbase]

The engeneering part is certainly not the part to worry about. Its the spare money.

[@NinetooNine]

I am curious what would happen if you incinerated the low level nuclear waste? I am thinking of something like a gasification plant where you trap any byproducts. Does the radiation get bound up in the ash?

[@MrIlnickif]

What about the low level wastes storage in Nuclear Test Site Nevada ( I DONT mean Yucca Mountains)

[@hv1461]

Excellent presentation. Thank you. Are you writing backwards on glass with a marker ?

[@dd_ranchtexas4501]

H V: Check which hand his wedding ring is on. It tells the tale..............

[@hv1461]

It’s on his right hand. But it should be on his left hand. So he’s standing in front of a mirror and the camera is shooting an image of the mirror? Now I’m even more intrigued ! Maybe some kind of half mirror?

[@isaac_k98]

H V the video is flipped

[@mytech6779]

It is a clear window, he writes normally, and the camera films it in a mirror to flip the image.(The camera is turned 90 degrees, and the mirror is set at 45degrees to the camera.) The window is also usually edge lit to make the marker bright and high contrast without causing reflection problems. At least this was the method 10 years ago; they may eliminate the mirror now and digitally flip the video but it would be more difficult for the camera operator to see mistakes in real time.

[@mytech6779]

@@dd_ranchtexas4501 wedding rings are common on either hand. Germanic folks even cover both and do engagement ring on left hand and wedding on the right.

[@nelsonlandry5488]

wish i could go to his classes...

[@motog6436]

"you don't just want to throw it in the river" that's right: ocean trenches are just as cheap!

[@evansgate]

Awesome, another channel devoted to something I am just smart enough to comprehend but too dumb to teach myself

[@thomaskeenan2208]

Fukushima water?

[@user-vo8ss2bm3p]

1. Was confused with this tons to pound conversion - what kind of tons was that? 2. Also if had properly understood those figures were about US only? Perhaps, worldwide stats would be better benchmark.

[@Willaev]

The US is the largest producer of commercial nuclear power, responsible for 33% of total world generation. So it is the benchmark.

[@Species-lj8wh]

America uses the Short ton for most large scale weight measurements. 2000lbs to a ton. The UK uses the long ton also called Imperial ton. 2240lbs to a ton. Convert to metric tonne or 1000kg= 2,204.62262lb.

[@mytech6779]

All types of tons are within 10%

[@whitexeno]

6:09 its actually 80 million pounds or 40,000 tons

[@maggiejetson7904]

I wonder how long would it take for them to finally be safe to go back into Fukushima and Chernoylbo.

[@bassmanjura]

you can go visit Chernobyl and nowadays even go inside the control room. Overall level of radioactiviy is very low, there are some hot spots where the bits of reactor landed, but in general it is safe and wildlife is thrivig there. Fukushima region is also safe to visit, there are people who came back to live there, there are places where the radiation levels are slightly higher so they evacuated the people from the region due to increased risk of cancer if you would continue to live there, not because of accute radiation poisoning.

[@maggiejetson7904]

@@bassmanjura Increase risk of cancer is a slow radiation damage, rather important if you wants to live long.

[@bassmanjura]

@@maggiejetson7904 sure, nobody wants cancer. But for eldery people it seems to be not an issue. There is many retired people coming back to their homes. Even in Chernobyl many of older people refused to move out from their homes.

[@artysanmobile]

Some of the mitigation methods you outline were done very badly in the past and then hidden by those who could make money by doing so. These remain hugely damaging to humans. I don’t blame the waste, but rather the stunning greed and avarice of those with financial and political power but limited intellects. Society is at constant risk from those it empowers to help it, as well as from those who just don’t give a crap about anything beyond themselves. We have disasters because of a lack of oversight by those who do care.

[@MrGigaHurtz]

6:07 er 40,000 tons

[@deannekwon6822]

I would love to watch and learn this information, but the squeaking of the marker is too much. 0:33

[@argentcosmonautmobile5672]

Is he writing backwards? Or is that some clever editing?

[@neilm6x60mmSR]

Horizontal mirroring

[@argentcosmonautmobile5672]

@@neilm6x60mmSR Ah, thank you. I am not experienced with any editing techniques.

[@rdspam]

6:06 0.04 million tons is 40,000 tons, not 40,000 pounds. It’s 80 million pounds.

[@erikbertram6019]

6:07 this isnt right, this should be 40 thousand tons or 80 million pounds

[@aaaaaa69420]

That squeaky pen, please no

[@EricTViking]

Don't throw low level nuclear waste in a river, and don't eat it 😂👍

[@daleneparole1502]

What's FUKUSHlMA.

[@apchistuz]

Fukushima is a prefecture of Japan

[@daleneparole1502]

@@apchistuz, Ha, It's WAY More than that.... Put your video game down and do something productive and show someone else what you found... Hint: we are All Japanese Now.

[@apchistuz]

@@daleneparole1502Huh?

[@Thunder_Yoda]

The agricultural "waste" is part of a cycle and should not have been in this video...

[@tensevo]

This video was brought to you by Nucleo-Corp Industries

[@tsvetangeorgiev]

Why people just refuse to listen to reason when comes to "nucular" stuff?!?! Just watch the professor, and allow yourself to think for yourself, once

[@mytech6779]

Many people don't understand elementary math and science, as far as they are concerned nuclear is just black magic. These people have no desire to improve and do not watch videos similar the professor.

[@wilfriedschuler3796]

Angela Merkel showed the world how to deal with low activity waste. During 1993-4 she odered to put around 40 000 drums in an old salt mine. The mine was already at the brink of collapsing. Collapsing in this case means, groundwater will penetrate, corrode the drums and the radioaktive stuff will be taken away and come to the surface somewhere, someday. As madam was in a hurry, because a court was about to stop the madness, she ordered the workmen not to stock the drums properly, but to throw them down the hole 15 m lower. Finally the court could finish it. Nowadays Germany is about to dig the drums out. It will cost up to 5 billion Euro and take 20 years. Of course, they are acting very slowly, waiting for the collapse of the whole thing. To learn more about this epic stupidity, just google "Merkel, Morsleben, desaster" And we have a second place, named "Asse 2" three times the size and equally lousy. This is the differnce between your nice stories and real life. Can you see, we Germans, well organized, clean, honest and orderly people. Mark Twain and Ambrose Bierce would be pleased to report about such stories. Dare you to invite the phd in physics, Dr. Angela Merkel to give a 30 min presentation at Illinois university? I would be glad to provide eggs and ripe tomatoes for the students. I really count on you.

[@erokfussell]

Yes, all of these things work in theory. I know for a fact that at minimum the clay cask approach is seriously flawed and has leaked into surrounding areas from plants when they crack. I appreciate the videos, but you should be transparent with what can and will go wrong in practice.

[@eugenecbell]

What plant? When?

[@erokfussell]

@@eugenecbell I cannot elaborate any more on this at the moment because I am unsure if the leak has been released as public knowledge. I will do some digging, however, and if I find out that it is in the public domain I will more than gladly update with a link. I think getting info like this out is important.

[@km5405]

you cant account for crooked managers and executives being irresponsible and slacking on costs like that for one thing. .. well you can, but that is beyond the scope of the engineering that is a socioeconomic problem. (youtube censored me apparently)

[@eugenecbell]

Eric Fussell, very good. Let us know if you fond an actual fact. Was it a nuclear site or some other kind of site?

[@eugenecbell]

Kevin Miedema, I agree. My wife used to design bridges, but she had no way to ensure the construction guys did not throw their pop cans into the concert causing a void that would make a weak spot and start the collapse of the bridge. At some point we always have to rely on the morals and quality of work of fallible humans. Do go work folks, lives may depend on it.

[@ashman187]

You can learn just why and how humans can create and dump this poison on others for eternity. Thats alot of effort and eternal trash to boil some water.

[@karlbrundage7472]

What's your favorite method of making the electricity that powers your easy life?

[@TonboIV]

If the US completely phases out coal power, then, maybe it's time to start talking about nuclear waste. Until then focusing so much attention on nuclear waste, while letting coal plants dump ash and spew mercury into the air is just nuts. Mercury is poison forever. It will still be dangerous in a trillion years, if there's anything left alive then to be endangered.

[@jermainerace4156]

@@TonboIV There won't be: in a few billion at most, the sun's increasing temperature will have stripped the planet of all water. We'll effectively be Venus. After the sun dies down a bit, we'll be like mars.