I vote a new space program... build shuttles with containment capsules in the cargobay with rockets attached to them, then while in space,.. the cargo bay opens and the capsule comes out and its' rockets blast's it into the sun. Shuttle lands back on earth and waits for next load. Or...do we have to save the sun as well as the earth?? We might anger the space people??
Sending spent fuel back into the sun is a grand idea. Unless the rocket blows up on the pad. Or you don't care that it costs like $10,000 (depending on who you ask) to launch 1 pound of material into orbit. Getting it to the sun would be more. They're measuring spent fuel in tons.
Or you can build a spaceship using pulsed nuclear detonation propulsion (see the original version of Orion from the 1950's), that will get stuff into orbit for pennies a pound.
Consider that it's only the beginning of the 21st century. We've only had this stuff since the 1930's. We have done very little experimentation with how to use the parts that are not fuel. ( mostly because of a deliberate campaign to scare people that any nuclear stuff is an atom bomb. )
It would really suck to find out a couple of things.
1. that after we toss a few hundred tons into the sun, it does something unexpected, that kills us all. Like cool off. Or heat up.
2. that we threw away the cure for X. ( the aids/ebola/flu? Who knows? )
3. That the secret waste facility on the Moon blows up, wiping out life on Earth, and sending Martin Landau off into space. ( ok, that one is unlikely )
4. That the stuff we spent a fortune to throw away, is even better fuel than Uranium. ( highly likely, in fact, pretty certain )
Only upside to throwing nuclear waste into the Sun is that we'd then have a space program. We could use one.
I love Orion. Surface to Orbit flights are a pain though. Never mind the fallout, it's small, you'd have to tell everyone in sight of the flight path to not look at it. People are stupid.
Recycle, reuse, and store what's left over in stainless casks, full of glass, someplace secure. ( we CAN "burn" a lot of it for power. IF we build the recycle system. )
Most of the "nuclear waste" by volume is booties and paper suits. That we can store under Harry Reid's house. It's harmless in less time than the super train from LA to Vegas will be built.
Maybe...each household can own a new fangled pedal powered generator that charges stored batteries. All homes will be self powered... grids will be used for public buildings...hospitals...gov... etc. Getting people back in shape. It be like brushing your teeth or taking a shower...30 min a day.
OR
We could have personal nuclear power stations in each home as well.
I bet if we sent every nuclear weapon that exists today into the sun... nothing would change on earth except ....we wouldn't have any more nuclear weapons.
I doubt a few tons of Uranium would hurt the Sun. But it's still rare and valuable stuff. All the heavy metals are, even when they are poisonous or normally useless. Rare stuff.
See my link from 4:03 today. A century ago neodymium wasn't very desirable. It didn't make steel harder better than cobalt, it isn't all that flashy for jewelry, so why not toss the stuff into the sun?
Some oddball isotope in nuclear waste might be just the thing you want to sparkplug a fusion reaction, or for antigravity coils, or a new cancer screening test. We'll find out.
I din't mean to eliminate the nuclear asteroid weapons program, just saying nothing would happen from it... let alone by sending nuclear waste into the sun to burn up.
OK, so save enough waste to perform tests... send the rest up in a spaceship and blast it into the sun to vaporize there. Keep the bulk of it OFF the earth.
But what would we do if we needed those old newspapers....I mean transuranics?
On Earth storage is cheaper and easier to do. Harry Reid's basement. ( since Yucca Mt. is a no go. )
Or, better yet, Ft. Hood. Set up a fenced in area, write in all the languages of the world, "enter here and you will die" on signs around the storage area, and leave it it stainless drums packed in glass. A shed or 6 would do. Instruct the troops at Ft. Hood to not go there, and anyone spotted in the no-go zone, shoot, and leave for the Vultures. Simple, effective, Darwinist.
Some have speculated that with the long lasting stuff we'd need to establish a Priesthood of the Atom to guard waste storage for generations, long after civilization had fallen, like in 2012. Modern techniques ( neutron activation ) make that obsolete, I hope, since most but not all of the really dangerous stuff can be processed. ( and is not, here, but mostly is in Japan & France. The new systems are not yet in use anywhere.)
France has been safely reprocessing their waste for decades. I suspect that we don't do that here because there is an element in our government that wants nuclear power to be seen as unsustainable. "What do we do with the waste?" they lament.
You mine on the Sun only at night. That's what makes it expensive, union rules.
Reprocessing is the law. They just don't spend the money to follow the law. Yucca mt. has been studied for far more money & time than any actual mining to build storage rooms. I don't know if it's a good or dumb place to stick stuff I don't want to leak into my water supply. It doesn't seem to matter. Someone decided it was the place. Then others decided to make hay with the voters and not let them use it. Science probably has nothing to do with either decision.
We've got craters in the desert where we set off above ground tests. The eco-nuts insist they are dead forever and cursed by Gaia. ( they are not, but hey! lets use the myths ) Set up a fence, ( warning signs in all languages ) pile it up in a safe manner, retrieve it as needed. I still think Ft. Hood is a better place, since we already have an armor unit there, and shooting would be nuclear terrorists is a no brainer. We can use the site to test border sensors and drones.
I also think the Mexico/U.S. border is a good place to train troops in border control, since insurgencies use borders, and, aside from watching China invade anyone they want to, or trying to stop the Russians from taking Paris, regular old school war is probably rare in the future, ( ask the surviving Libyan rebels ) while insurgencies are pretty much the only kind of war we have today. If you don't live near Russia or China, or are in S. Korea. But I digress.
I see they are laying a big extension cord up to the powerplants to try and run the gear. Good luck guys.
Today's report sounds like things are going MUCH better:
quote:
News Brief, 3/18/11, 10 AM EDT Spraying of spent fuel pools at Units 3 and 4 is still underway. Visual inspection of Unit 4’s pool showed water in the pool, and so efforts have been temporarily focused upon Unit 3. While efforts at using helicopters to dump water onto the pools had been largely unsuccessful , army firetrucks used in putting out aircraft fires have been employed with some success. The elite Tokyo Hyper Rescue component of the Tokyo fire department has arrived on scene and is conducting missions of roughly two hours in length, during which they spray the pools for 7-8 minutes, wait for steam to dissipate, and spray again.
A cable has been laid from a TEPCO power line 1.5 km from the facility, which will be used to supply power to emergency cooling systems of the reactors at Units 1 and 2.
Backup diesel generators have been connected to cool the spent fuel pools at Units 5 and 6. As of 4 PM JST, temperatures in those pools have reached 65.5 and and 62 degrees Celsius.
Visual inspections have been conducted of both the central spent fuel pool, which contains 60% of the facility’s fuel, and the dry cask storage area. Water levels at the central pool have been described as “secured”, and the dry casks show “no signs of an abnormal situation”. More detailed checks of these areas are planned for the future.
These measurements give doses in excess of background radiation, which is why some may appear low. High measurements at reading point 32 are thought to be the result of a controlled containment venting and a simultaneous fire which carried radioactive particles inland. Over the course of the incident, the general trend has been for weather patterns to sweep radioactive particles out to sea.
As a result of these radiation measurements and the ongoing work, the Japanese Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency upgraded the event to a 5 on the INES scale. This is the same level as the Three Mile Island accident, and two steps below Chernobyl.
Resources: ANS Nuclear Café’; World Nuclear News,; IAEA; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT).
The above is from MIT NSE Nuclear Information hub at: http://mitnse.com/
Oddly, now there is NOTHING mentioned on the news headlines at Yahoo about the nuc plants at all.
Just because you have the blueprints doesn't mean you can make it.
Would you take a decent pay job working in a French nuclear fuel processing plant? I would.
Would you take a job in a Russian nuclear fuel processing plant? ( you know the Russian jokes about nuke sub crews not needing to screw in a lightbulb? )
Back in my sordid youth in an ASW format, it was easy to follow the typically 7 to 8 Ruskie atomic subs off our west coast by following the radioactive trails they left in the ocean.
So if not nukes, then what? Wind? Here's a couple of interesting articles that show a pretty poor history of wind power. Who hasn't gone past a huge wind farm and notice how many of the turbines are not spinning. I've always wondered why. Turns out they are down for various maintenance reasons very often. Now I find out that some of the ones spinning are in "virtual mode" and not even producing electricity. At least they can still kill birds in virtual mode. I still think nukes make sense! http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/03/19/the-reality- of-wind-turbines-in-california-video/ http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/wind_energy s_ghosts_1.html
Wind turbines: AKA Raptor Cuisinarts! The wind does not always blow. Nuclear is forever! Chernobyl (1986, I think) meant that no Welsh lamb could be eaten for several years but, Just S of Wales is the English West Country (The counties of Devon & Cornwall) The Brit' nuclear agency could not comment on background radiation changes as a result of fallout from Chernobyl as the whole place is granite. (apparently, that has comparatively high but safe radiation levels). However, please bear in mind that the only safe fast breeder is the rabbit! I am pro-nuclear power but I do understand the rationale that you, "Pay your money & make your choice." make of this what you will. Chris C
