4 ms·
Using made-up numbers, the problem goes roughly like this: Start with a million tons of rock. Process it. Now you have 999998 tons of very finely powdered rock
by tropo 7y ago
Using made-up numbers, the problem goes roughly like this:
Start with a million tons of rock. Process it. Now you have 999998 tons of very finely powdered rock, 1 ton of valuable product, and 1 ton of naturally occurring radioactive waste. You aren't permitted to mix the radioactive waste back into the rock, even though that is where it came from in the first place.
Among other things, you get thorium.
- pstrateman 7y agoAnd if you're doing it the cheap way... a lake of acid.
- xref 7y agoThe thorium itself possibly becoming a valuable commodity if Gen III/IV nuclear reactors get built. It’s a very stable isotope (age of the universe half-life so far) and doesn’t emit hard gamma radiation (though its daughters do, but again very long half-life), store it up.