4 ms·

So nuclear waste is stored in casks: * https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-used-nuclear-fuel/how-is-it-stored-today https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-used-nuclear-fuel/how-i

So nuclear waste is stored in casks: * https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-used-nuclear-fuel/how-is-it-stored-today https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-used-nuclear-fuel/how-is-it-stor... * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_flask https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_flask Are you telling me it's unsafe? Someone better tell Madison Hill: * https://www.newsweek.com/pregnant-woman-poses-nuclear-waste-prove-point-about-radiation-idaho-1809500 https://www.newsweek.com/pregnant-woman-poses-nuclear-waste-... * https://twitter.com/MadiHilly/status/1550148385931513856 https://twitter.com/MadiHilly/status/1550148385931513856 * https://twitter.com/MadiHilly/status/1671491294831493120 https://twitter.com/MadiHilly/status/1671491294831493120 Or Paris Ortiz-Wines: * https://twitter.com/ParisOrtizWines/status/1195184970613936129 https://twitter.com/ParisOrtizWines/status/11951849706139361... (The context here is not walking down some road and getting bombarded with particles: but about the storage of industrial material and the risks it involves. Yes, stuff gets shot out at >300 years: but it's not just lying around randomly.)

blibble 1y ago
it's fine as long as it doesn't get out of its flask which it will do eventually, if it's left out in the open it needs to be buried reducing the volume via reprocessing helps assuming you can do something with the 97% of "useful" stuff extracted (which the UK has mostly failed at, and now stores it in a warehouse)
- 74B5 1y ago
  And then eventually, water seeps in. Like in the german Asse II mine, that is planned to be evacuated, which will be a major challenge. https://www.bge.de/en/asse/short-information/history-of-the-asse-ii-mine/ https://www.bge.de/en/asse/short-information/history-of-the-... It might be true that nuclear power produces less waste but we have to consider the scales of global energy demand, multiply it by the time scales of nuclear waste to reach what threshold exactly? When and how would nuclear waste become a problem. Would it take ~200 years like the industrial revolution with CO2? Would it be okay if it where 300 years? or 500? What do we do, when background radiation is rising from ground water and soil? Switch back to natural instead of green energy, hoping the next millenias will be fine? I dont think nuclear power is a solution. It can be step in an energy transition strategy, but no solution.
  - somanyphotons 1y ago
    Ok lets send it on a rocket to a graveyard orbit
    - greenavocado 1y ago
      What happens when the rocket explodes on the launchpad or at several thousand feet ASL?
  - throw0101a 1y ago
    > And then eventually, water seeps in. Not if it's below non-porous rock… * https://www.nwmo.ca/who-we-are/how-were-governed/peer-review/geoscientific-review-group https://www.nwmo.ca/who-we-are/how-were-governed/peer-review... * https://www.nwmo.ca/Site-selection/Steps-in-the-site-selection-process/Step-3-Preliminary-assessments-of-suitability/Step-3-Phase-2-Field-studies-and-engagement/2-D-seismic-surveys-in-sedimentary-rocks https://www.nwmo.ca/Site-selection/Steps-in-the-site-selecti... …below the water table… * https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-plan/canadas-deep-geological-repository https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-plan/canadas-deep-geological-rep... …packed in non-porous soil/clay: * https://www.nwmo.ca/-/media/Reports-MASTER/Technical-reports/NWMO-TR-2014-10-Characterization-of-Natural-Organic-Matter-in-Bentonite-Clays-2014-05.ashx https://www.nwmo.ca/-/media/Reports-MASTER/Technical-reports... * https://www.nwmo.ca/Canadas-plan/Multiple-barrier-system https://www.nwmo.ca/Canadas-plan/Multiple-barrier-system > When and how would nuclear waste become a problem. Never. If there is ever "too much" of it we reprocess it as per OP article to remove the "non-usable" stuff and burn up the rest. It seems that there's an order of magnitude reduce by recycling (96% is usable fuel, so 4% is left over): * https://www.orano.group/en/unpacking-nuclear/all-about-radioactive-waste-in-france https://www.orano.group/en/unpacking-nuclear/all-about-radio...
    - natmaka 1y ago
      Among specialists the consensus is that "Internationally, it is understood that there is no reliable scientific basis for predicting the process or likelihood of inadvertent human intrusion." Source: https://international.andra.fr/sites/international/files/2019-03/An%20International%20Peer%20Review%20of%20the%20Cig%C3%A9o%20project%20%28IAEA%29_0.pdf https://international.andra.fr/sites/international/files/201... Plate tectonic and sismotectonic are also sources of concern: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10706-005-1148-4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10706-005-1148-4 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716314632 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971...
deepsun 1y ago
Why, if it's in sealed casks underground, than yes, gamma is the only thing to worry about. My whole comment was about nuclear waste danger and its associated costs, not about danger of an non-compromised waste storage facility. Sorry, I don't have a Twitter account to read the posts, but they look like my point exactly.
- throw0101a 1y ago
  > Sorry, I don't have a Twitter account to read the posts, but they look like my point exactly. Neither to I: * https://status.d420.de https://status.d420.de

blibble 1y ago

it's fine as long as it doesn't get out of its flask which it will do eventually, if it's left out in the open it needs to be buried reducing the volume via reprocessing helps assuming you can do something with the 97% of "useful" stuff extracted (which the UK has mostly failed at, and now stores it in a warehouse)

74B5 1y ago
And then eventually, water seeps in. Like in the german Asse II mine, that is planned to be evacuated, which will be a major challenge. https://www.bge.de/en/asse/short-information/history-of-the-asse-ii-mine/ https://www.bge.de/en/asse/short-information/history-of-the-... It might be true that nuclear power produces less waste but we have to consider the scales of global energy demand, multiply it by the time scales of nuclear waste to reach what threshold exactly? When and how would nuclear waste become a problem. Would it take ~200 years like the industrial revolution with CO2? Would it be okay if it where 300 years? or 500? What do we do, when background radiation is rising from ground water and soil? Switch back to natural instead of green energy, hoping the next millenias will be fine? I dont think nuclear power is a solution. It can be step in an energy transition strategy, but no solution.
- somanyphotons 1y ago
  Ok lets send it on a rocket to a graveyard orbit
  - greenavocado 1y ago
    What happens when the rocket explodes on the launchpad or at several thousand feet ASL?
- throw0101a 1y ago
  > And then eventually, water seeps in. Not if it's below non-porous rock… * https://www.nwmo.ca/who-we-are/how-were-governed/peer-review/geoscientific-review-group https://www.nwmo.ca/who-we-are/how-were-governed/peer-review... * https://www.nwmo.ca/Site-selection/Steps-in-the-site-selection-process/Step-3-Preliminary-assessments-of-suitability/Step-3-Phase-2-Field-studies-and-engagement/2-D-seismic-surveys-in-sedimentary-rocks https://www.nwmo.ca/Site-selection/Steps-in-the-site-selecti... …below the water table… * https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-plan/canadas-deep-geological-repository https://www.nwmo.ca/canadas-plan/canadas-deep-geological-rep... …packed in non-porous soil/clay: * https://www.nwmo.ca/-/media/Reports-MASTER/Technical-reports/NWMO-TR-2014-10-Characterization-of-Natural-Organic-Matter-in-Bentonite-Clays-2014-05.ashx https://www.nwmo.ca/-/media/Reports-MASTER/Technical-reports... * https://www.nwmo.ca/Canadas-plan/Multiple-barrier-system https://www.nwmo.ca/Canadas-plan/Multiple-barrier-system > When and how would nuclear waste become a problem. Never. If there is ever "too much" of it we reprocess it as per OP article to remove the "non-usable" stuff and burn up the rest. It seems that there's an order of magnitude reduce by recycling (96% is usable fuel, so 4% is left over): * https://www.orano.group/en/unpacking-nuclear/all-about-radioactive-waste-in-france https://www.orano.group/en/unpacking-nuclear/all-about-radio...
  - natmaka 1y ago
    Among specialists the consensus is that "Internationally, it is understood that there is no reliable scientific basis for predicting the process or likelihood of inadvertent human intrusion." Source: https://international.andra.fr/sites/international/files/2019-03/An%20International%20Peer%20Review%20of%20the%20Cig%C3%A9o%20project%20%28IAEA%29_0.pdf https://international.andra.fr/sites/international/files/201... Plate tectonic and sismotectonic are also sources of concern: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10706-005-1148-4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10706-005-1148-4 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716314632 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004896971...

deepsun 1y ago

Why, if it's in sealed casks underground, than yes, gamma is the only thing to worry about. My whole comment was about nuclear waste danger and its associated costs, not about danger of an non-compromised waste storage facility. Sorry, I don't have a Twitter account to read the posts, but they look like my point exactly.

throw0101a 1y ago
> Sorry, I don't have a Twitter account to read the posts, but they look like my point exactly. Neither to I: * https://status.d420.de https://status.d420.de