• Question: When you are doing your experiments/buildings new substances do you ever have to fill in a form about the environmental impact of the experiment?

    Asked by anon-201733 to Sophia, Sarah, Meirin, George, Emily, Andy on 4 Mar 2019. This question was also asked by anon-201903.
    • Photo: George Fulton

      George Fulton answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      In short, not directly, but it is something that we consider as scientists.

      For example, when you use a substance for an experiment, you need to complete a COSHH form. COSHH stands for Control Of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. This basically makes sure that the substances and combination of substances that are used in a particular experiment are known, what precautions need to be taken when using them (nitrile gloves etc) are known to users and how to dispose of the waste. In other words, it’s used to make sure you and the people around you are kept safe. Typically there is also a section in a COSHH form that asks if you have considered alternative substances that have less environmental impact or are less hazardous to dispose of. However, sometimes it is impossible to find suitable alternatives for particular experiments, thankfully waste disposal routes are much more conscientious than they used to be and disposal has a much smaller environmental impact.

    • Photo: Meirin Oan Evans

      Meirin Oan Evans answered on 5 Mar 2019:

      I haven’t personally had to fill in any environmental forms for my experiment, but it is something others who are in charge of environmental considerations have to do. Since my experiment collides particles 100m underground, it has much less of an environmental impact that it would above ground!

    • Photo: Sarah O'Sullivan

      Sarah O'Sullivan answered on 5 Mar 2019:

      Not directly the environmental impact but I do have to fill in a risk assessment, which is mainly human focused and details how I could injure myself, and a CoSHH form (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health, like George has explained) considering how I dispose of any chemical waste.

      We also have specific routes for disposing radioactive waste, which our university Radiation Protection Advisor helps us with. We can dispose of some radioactive waste is if diluted enough and has a low enough activity through regular disposal, like to a landfill. However, most of our radioactive waste gets taken to a special facility that surrounds the waste containers in concrete and disposes them in this format so they pose no risk to the environment, especially considering how little radioactive material we actually use. in three years of working, I’ve used only 250g of uranium compounds and most of that is sat as samples in my lab storage. We don’t throw things out unless they’re very clearly waste items

    • Photo: Sophia Pells

      Sophia Pells answered on 5 Mar 2019:

      Good question! Like other people have said, I don’t have to fill out the forms myself but they exist and are very important. At the moment, we are planning an experiment to try and produce some of the radioactive atoms that I am studying. Unfortunately, it’s very difficult to just produce the ones I want so we will produce a few different radioactive atoms in the experiment. There are people called Radiation Protection Advisers who are trained to know how different amounts of radiation will affect people and the environment and what safety precautions need to be taken. We have to tell them exactly how much and what type of radiation we expect to make and then they tell us if we are allowed to do our experiment and let us know all of the rules we need to follow. For example, one of the rules we have to follow is that everyone working on the experiment will have to wear a badge which keeps track of the levels of radiation to make sure none of us get doses that are too high.

    • Photo: Andy Buckley

      Andy Buckley answered on 5 Mar 2019:

      I’m not personally in charge of that sort of experiment, but those at CERN and elsewhere who are responsible for the experiment construction and operations do have to consider it seriously. These things are built into lab and legally required procedures, and also increasingly into the procedures we go through when applying for funding — EU research forms have to declare any animal welfare issues, for example. We also increasingly think about the environmental impact that our computing has: we run huge arrays of servers to process the enormous data output from the LHC, and those are drawing power and generating heat 24h a day, all year round. Making them more efficient is not just good for the planet, but keeps our bills down.

    • Photo: Emily Lewis

      Emily Lewis answered on 8 Mar 2019:

      Not personally, I just play with computers all day so the most dangerous thing I have to do is lifting heavy things…
      But yes it is something that some scientists have to consider, and it is a good thing as it forces us to think about any environmental damage and how we can reduce it. For example there are strict rules about handling radioactive waste and if you don’t do your paperwork correctly you could be put in prison!

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