2.813/2.83 Homework #2 Material Flows Please bear in mind that with material flows all calculations are approximate. Problem 1 With the project of Yucca mountain the US is hoping to store nuclear waste that is currently stored onsite at the nuclear facilities. What if all this waste was thrown into the ocean. How would the concentration of uranium in the ocean change if we assume 100% of the waste is Uranium. Go online and find the US nuclear waste from 1968 onwards (hint: EIA). Calculate the increase in the concentration of Uranium (in percentage) if all the US waste is dumped into the ocean. Problem 2 Lets assume there is a proposal to open a mega-factory or conglomerate of factories that emits 8 Gtonnes of carbon (C) as carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in a given year. In that year how much will the CO2 concentration change? There are several ways of doing it. Hint: Think about residence time! (visit your class slides) Problem 3 Assume you smoke 20 cigarettes/day for a year. How much lead are you exposed to? Hint: If you can’t find the concentration of lead in tobacco, assume the whole cigarette is dry plant matter. Problem 4 Estimate the global amount of copper mobilization in human beings today. Problem 5 If we expect population to increase to 9 billion in 50 years from now, and GDP per capita to increase by a factor of 7, how much will we need to reduce our environmental impact per GDP just to stay even? Problem 6 If the future value F of an asset with a present value P is increased at the (interest) rate i per time period, then over n time periods, show that 1ifor )1(2<<+≅ inPF . Problem 7 Using the TRI (it is okay to report the answers in pounds): A) In 1998 in Louisiana, how much chromium has emitted to air? B) In 2001, in the U.S. what was the total on and off site disposal (and other releases) of HAP’s?C) In 2002, in Middlesex, NJ which chemical had the largest emitted quantities on and off site (disposal + other releases)? Hint: you can either find it or export it (fancy) into excel and use the sort
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