4 ms·

I'm excited for a space elevator almost exclusively just so we can get rid of nuclear waste. Nuclear power is the only current viable alternative to fossil fuel

I'm excited for a space elevator almost exclusively just so we can get rid of nuclear waste. Nuclear power is the only current viable alternative to fossil fuels at scale, from my understanding. However, people are squeamish about the spent fuel...if we could take it up to space and launch it into the sun (without having to deal with the perils of escaping gravity) it would be a lot easier to get rid of.

neaden 7y ago
This sounds like a pretty bad idea. Putting radioactive material into space orbiting the earth would be pretty dangerous, and getting something from earth's orbit to the sun is not easy. I think the risk of an accident under this plan would be way higher than our current plans.
jandrese 7y ago
That sounds way more dangerous than just burying it in the ground. An accident in space spreads radioactive materials over some part of the Earth almost at random. An accident in a buried site stays mostly contained, with the biggest danger being contaminated groundwater.
- orthecreedence 7y ago
  OH yeah?!
idbehold 7y ago
But don't you still have the problem of getting the waste from the Earth's surface to the elevator and thus still have all the danger involved?
LorenPechtel 7y ago
Nuclear waste isn't a big deal. After reprocessing what's left will decay to ambient in 10,000 years. Every major proposal for how to deal with it will have no problem storing that. If you're scared about plutonium from reprocessing there are two things: 1) Reactor fuel has been in the reactor for too long. It's going to have far too much Pu-240. Reactors don't care, bombs do. You can't make a reliable bomb if you have too much Pu-240. 2) Deliberately leave hot stuff in the reprocessed fuel. So long as it's not a neutron absorber the reactor won't care. However, it will leave the fuel deadly hot. The industry has the equipment to handle it (after all, it's no hotter than the spent fuel they are removing), the terrorist does not. Nobody's smuggling it out because they won't live to accomplish it, not to mention that it will set off alarms from far away.
- Tepix 7y ago
  That's a lot of optimistic handwaving. If it's so easy why haven't we managed to do it in the last 70 years?
yummypaint 7y ago
Launching stuff into the sun actually takes quite alot of energy. In fact its even harder than leaving the solar system entirely.

neaden 7y ago

This sounds like a pretty bad idea. Putting radioactive material into space orbiting the earth would be pretty dangerous, and getting something from earth's orbit to the sun is not easy. I think the risk of an accident under this plan would be way higher than our current plans.

jandrese 7y ago

That sounds way more dangerous than just burying it in the ground. An accident in space spreads radioactive materials over some part of the Earth almost at random. An accident in a buried site stays mostly contained, with the biggest danger being contaminated groundwater.

orthecreedence 7y ago
OH yeah?!

idbehold 7y ago

But don't you still have the problem of getting the waste from the Earth's surface to the elevator and thus still have all the danger involved?

LorenPechtel 7y ago

Nuclear waste isn't a big deal. After reprocessing what's left will decay to ambient in 10,000 years. Every major proposal for how to deal with it will have no problem storing that. If you're scared about plutonium from reprocessing there are two things: 1) Reactor fuel has been in the reactor for too long. It's going to have far too much Pu-240. Reactors don't care, bombs do. You can't make a reliable bomb if you have too much Pu-240. 2) Deliberately leave hot stuff in the reprocessed fuel. So long as it's not a neutron absorber the reactor won't care. However, it will leave the fuel deadly hot. The industry has the equipment to handle it (after all, it's no hotter than the spent fuel they are removing), the terrorist does not. Nobody's smuggling it out because they won't live to accomplish it, not to mention that it will set off alarms from far away.

Tepix 7y ago
That's a lot of optimistic handwaving. If it's so easy why haven't we managed to do it in the last 70 years?

yummypaint 7y ago

Launching stuff into the sun actually takes quite alot of energy. In fact its even harder than leaving the solar system entirely.