3 ms·
You can just dump it into the ocean floor with little consequence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_floor_disposal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_floor
by RobLach 7y ago
You can just dump it into the ocean floor with little consequence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_floor_disposal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_floor_disposal
- soVeryTired 7y agoOnce it's down there it might be safe, but the devil is in the details. How do we get it there with 100% reliability? If you think an oil spill is bad, consider the effect of a spent nuclear fuel spill.
- 08-15 7y agoHow do you spill a ceramic?! It's a heavy solid, not a liquid!
- RobLach 7y agoNuclear waste is mostly solid and very dense. Water absorbs almost all harmful radiation within a few meters The thought process behind just throwing barrels into an ocean trench as was done by the US was and still is sound but people are freaked out by the notion. The UK was encasing barrels in concrete before doing the same which is more than good enough by most measures. Ultimately nuclear waste is easier to deal with than some other toxic industrial waste or chemicals.
- hyperdimension 7y agoBut then where would we get non-irradiated steel from? We're already harvesting it from old, pre-nuclear-era sunken ships: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low-background_steel
- RobLach 7y agoIrradiated steel comes from irradiated air used in the steel making process, all of which came from bombs detonated in the atmosphere. Nuclear waste sitting at the bottom of the ocean will have a hard time ever reaching the atmosphere.