Nuclear Reactor:A Radioactive Waste-Making Machine.

Here are the reactor designs shown in the article from the 1950's:

 

The above images are from a magazine article about nuclear power, probably 1956. (We have not been able to determine which magazine the images are from. Perhaps Life, Look, etc.. Any assistance in positively identifying this source will be appreciated!)

Below are several schematic diagrams of a Boiling Water Reactor Pressure Vessel. This unit is about four stories tall:

The above image is from a Nuclear Mafia web site.

-- The above image is from: The Silent Bomb: A Guide to the Nuclear Energy Controversy, Edited by Peter Faulkner, page 85,Vintage Books, NY, July, 1977 (colorization by this author).

Below is a schematic drawing of a GE BWR:

-- The above image is from: The Silent Bomb: A Guide to the Nuclear Energy Controversy, Edited by Peter Faulkner, page 283,Vintage Books, NY, July, 1977 (colorization by this author).

The reactor cores remain radioactive for about a million years after their brief use in the reactor (two to six years). The waste must be carefully isolated from humans and other living things during this entire time. NO EXCEPTIONS.

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Below are schematic diagrams for PWR and BWR reactors, the two types used in the United States:

-- The above image is from: The Bridgeport (Connecticut) Telegram, April 30th, 1980, page 38 (colorization by this author).

Many ideas for how to safely store the waste have been suggested, but none have been successfully implemented, and none solve the problem of transportation accidents along the way to the final repository, whatever it might be.

-- The above image is from: Northeast Utilities (Connecticut Yankee) Information Brochure, June, 1973, pages 10-11 (adjusted for the Internet and additional colorization by this author).

from:http://www.animatedsoftware.com/hotwords/nuclear_reactor/nuclear_reactor.htm