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> use rockets to slowly launch the waste into space. We can already design a storage capsule that can survive re-entry. Do you have a source in mind for this c
by qnleigh 2y ago
> use rockets to slowly launch the waste into space. We can already design a storage capsule that can survive re-entry.
Do you have a source in mind for this claim? Even if a capsule could survive reentry, surely it wouldn't survive impact.
- cyberax 2y agoYes. We're _already_ launching nuclear waste into space, in the form of RTGs with Pu-238. So there's been a lot of work towards making them passively safe, although the weight constraints for deep-space craft necessarily limit the amount of achievable safety. > Even if a capsule could survive reentry, surely it wouldn't survive impact. It'll be moving at a terminal velocity, and can be engineered to not fragment on impact. For example, I remember reading about a proposal to alloy the nuclear waste elements with a carrier metal like iron or nickel, and then cover them in an ablative graphite shell.
- maxerickson 2y agoThe Pu-238 in Rtgs is produced for the purpose, it isn't isolated from waste. Of course it is more or less equivalent when it comes to handling.