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Several centuries is not vastly different from thousands of years, it's still something we have to leave for a distant generation.
by jojobas 2y ago
Several centuries is not vastly different from thousands of years, it's still something we have to leave for a distant generation.
- belorn 2y agoLet say you had 1kg of radioactive material that produced 10x the lethal level of radiation. Let say this material has a half life of 6 seconds. Question 1: How many seconds until its below lethal levels. Question 2: How many years will it take until the last atom is gone with a probability of 99%?
- pfdietz 2y agoThe importance of the "several centuries" is that it sets an upper limit on how long we can wait before reprocessing or burying (or otherwise permanently disposing of) spent nuclear fuel. After that point, the fuel's gamma activity will have declined so much it is no longer self-protecting from "amateur" reprocessing and diversion of the plutonium. I think it's quite plausible that today's dry casks could last several centuries. So, we have a technology that will last as long as it could be intended to. Arguably it's better for our descendants to do this and let them deal with the waste, not needlessly do something much more expensive. Our descendants will not like that we squandered wealth and left them with larger debts or lower growth either. Always consider what else could be done with resources when you advocate their use.