4 ms·

I don't think either of those things need to cost much. Concrete casts are totally fine for long-term containment.

• foxyv 2y ago
  The cost isn't so much the materials themselves as the regulatory burden imposed by them. You need to guard them indefinitely even after the plant is shut down. You need to inspect them regularly. If the waste is a mile underground under a couple megatons of rock and concrete then it's not a lasting cost to the company that built it.
  • chimeracoder 2y ago
    > The cost isn't so much the materials themselves as the regulatory burden imposed by them. You need to guard them indefinitely even after the plant is shut down. These are all issues for fossil fuel extraction as well, and I have bad news for you about how this problem is currently handled.
    • foxyv 2y ago
      In my opinion, the biggest problem with fossil fuel extraction is that it is slowly destroying our biosphere.
    • lokar 2y ago
      Exactly. Tons of abandoned oil wells left for the taxpayers to clean up. But of course we can’t demand that all new wells post bonds for the cleanup costs in advance, that would make them unprofitable.
• blueant 2y ago
  It depends on what you define as long-term. For a few decades, with proper inspections, sure. For the geological time frames needed for nuclear waste disposal, definitely not.