Turning spent nuclear fuel into glass. Read A nuclear waste primer. Read A timeline. Read Back to the beginning Nuclear waste primer Human beings live in a naturally radioactive environment. The earth under our feet and the cosmic rays above our heads constantly expose us to natural background radiation.
Atoms are the basic building blocks of all matter.
Radionuclides are unstable atoms that undergo a spontaneous decaying process that can last from a fraction of a second to billions of years. The rate of this decay is measured in half-lives, or the time it takes half of the radioactive atoms to decay. Some radionuclides can split, or fission . The resulting fission products emit a form of energy called radiation , which is dangerous because it can cause changes in the structure and function of the DNA in cells. When fission occurs, neutrons, which are particles in the nucleus of the atom, are released.