Submerged in a pool of water at Hanford Site are 1,936 stainless-steel nuclear-waste capsules containing cesium and strontium. Combined, they contain over 120 million curies of radioactivity.
It is estimated to be the most curies under one roof in the United States.
The blue glow is created by the Cherenkov Effect which describes the electromagnetic radiation emitted when a charged particle, giving off energy, moves faster than light through a transparent medium.
The temperatures of the capsules are as high as 330 degrees Fahrenheit (165,5C). The pool of water serves as a shield against radiation; a human standing one foot from an unshielded capsule would receive a lethal dose of radiation in less than 10 seconds. Hanford is among the most contaminated sites in the United States.
Reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanford_Site
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strontium-90
Image courtesy Gagosian Gallery/Steidl.
Image credit: Taryn Simon
As dangerous as these radioactive bars are, the photo is mesmerizing!
ReplyDeleteFrom that picture you can imagine what those charged particles will do to your body.
ReplyDeleteNo smell, no feel, nothing that our senses can perceive.
You just die in 10 seconds.
Think about it
The cold killer.
Just melts you down.
Thanks, Corina Marinescu .
I really love the picture, too, Massimo Marengo .
The blue glow is fantastic.
ReplyDeleteWish to see the visible light produced by Cherenkov Effect some day with my own eyes, from a safe distance.
ReplyDeleteUmmm careful what you wish for Mindey I. !
ReplyDeleteNice..thanks for sharing Vefa Kucukboyaci ;)
ReplyDelete50 years from now our great grand children will ask, "What idiot thought nuclear power would be a good idea for boiling water?"
ReplyDeleteVefa Kucukboyaci Cool. Thanks! I'll think of that when I next time visit Purdue. Now I'm in Lithuania.
ReplyDeleteOh Erik Brown I was wondering when you gonna say something about this?!?
ReplyDeleteCorina Marinescu, glad your amused. I had a long boring trip today and thought I might as well practice my sarcasm.
ReplyDeleteIs Fukushima Daiichi 's pool safer ?
ReplyDeleteThey should still be able to harness waste radioactive energy, though I guess the costs and other complexities prevents that
ReplyDeleteSam Collett yeah, I think the fact of it being only 165degC probably means the rate of heat transfer would not be high enough to drive steam turbines. That kind of temperature can drive Stirling engines though, and it would be quite adequate for space heating in winter.
ReplyDeleteThe blurb doesn't say how much energy is being given off;
I guess the cost of heat exchangers would also be a barrier to success.
I have had family that worked at Hanford. My buddy included a Hanford tour with his Columbia River Cruise.
ReplyDeleteHanford is having some contamination issues that had been overlooked.