Nuclear Waste

[Trekker4747]

With all this talk in the UK about building more nuclear power stations and where to bury the waste it got me thinking about what could be done to ensure the waste is securely locked away so I came up with an idea which I thought i'd mention to you guys to see if it's any good. How about burying all the worlds nuclear waste at the south pole? under all the ice it's solid ground, dig a deep hole and line it with lead walls, drop in the nuclear waste and then fill the hole up with water, the water will then freeze into a huge extremely thick block of ice. With the ice being so thick none of the radiation will get through right? the radioactive material will be surrounded by solid ground, a lead wall and metres of ice.

What do you think?

We've (Americans) already a place they want to dump spent fuel rods. In Yucca Mountain in Nevada. It can be dumped there and forgotten not effecting anyone. Ever. It's not going to be ready for a few more years, if it'll be allowed to even be used.

 

[FordSVT]

Color me crazy, but I've always thought shooting the nuclear waste into the Sun might be a plausible alternative. Of course, I grew up watching Space 1999, so the whole "repositories on the moon" idea was one I never really took to.

I must be crazy as well. I had thought the same thing long ago. Of course we do have accidents once in a while during liftoff.

And the problem is that the same argument could be made for taking it up on a space elevator.

The real trick appears to be how to get it off the planet safely to dispose of it?

I would imagine that the kinds of accidents that could take place lifting things into the atmosphere on a carbon nanotube tether would be far less severe than the kind of accidents that could take (and have taken) place when a rocket travelling at several thousand mph explodes with thousands of pounds of solid fuel on board.

Unless we invent the magic transporter, you'll never find a perfectly safe way to get things into orbit. The best we can hope for is a well-used system that has thousands and thousands of safe flights or lifts under it's belt without fault. Basically, space travel will have to be technologically mundane and a hell of a lot cheaper. That's still a ways off.

But it would be a great solution, if you could pull it off safely.

 

[Dayton3]

Antarctica does have an active volcano doesn't it?

Mt. Erebus I believe is still considered active.

Put it in Yucca Mountain for the next 200 years.

Then shoot it into space once space travel becomes more reliable.

 

[John Picard]

With all this talk in the UK about building more nuclear power stations and where to bury the waste it got me thinking about what could be done to ensure the waste is securely locked away so I came up with an idea which I thought i'd mention to you guys to see if it's any good. How about burying all the worlds nuclear waste at the south pole? under all the ice it's solid ground, dig a deep hole and line it with lead walls, drop in the nuclear waste and then fill the hole up with water, the water will then freeze into a huge extremely thick block of ice. With the ice being so thick none of the radiation will get through right? the radioactive material will be surrounded by solid ground, a lead wall and metres of ice.

What do you think?

We've (Americans) already a place they want to dump spent fuel rods. In Yucca Mountain in Nevada. It can be dumped there and forgotten not effecting anyone. Ever. It's not going to be ready for a few more years, if it'll be allowed to even be used.

That's the key. There has been numerous lawsuits filed to prohibit Yucca Mountain from opening. Breeder reactors are the best solution bar none.