I don't agree with the current idea of burying waste permanently in deep caves and leaving it there.
I think they should create one or more military facilities in the deep wastes of the American southwest, preferably on existing military sites, and build a shielded and properly-designed above-ground repository where this kind of thing could be safely kept for a few decades until we have better places to put it. It would be guarded and protected by armed military personnel and equipment like any other military weapons facility. I see no reason why this kind of storage would be any less safe than the storage of atomic bombs on military facilities has been for decades.
Transporting high-level wastes, despite the nervousness of environmentalists, is a well-developed technology.
Using breeder reactor technology would burn up a lot of waste, and require less fissionable material coming in the front end. All reasonable projections of nuclear power resources show that breeder reactors are an important part of this equation.
Nuclear reactors would be a lot more popular if they could be located far from cities and such, but line losses over vast distances make this a problem.
I would like to see a study of what it would require to transport power from nuclear generators in the form of hydrogen cracked from water rather than over electrical lines. How does the energy flow density compare? How does the leakage from hydrogen gas pipelines (there are already natural gas pipelines everywhere) compare to resistance losses on electric lines? Would having to locate the reactor near a water source be a problem?
If anyone knows of someone who has actually looked at this question, let me know.
Current Events » in reply to Gotta go nuclear. At the moment there's no other realistic choice.
Waste issues.
The whole thread (13 posts)
- Dawn breaking in the environmental movement?
- Nuclear power depends upon vast subsidies. It can NOT complete in a free market.
- Gotta go nuclear. At the moment there's no other realistic choice.
- I love it when radicals demonize the opposite polarity's radicals for being so damn radical.... (n/t)
- This may not be significant
- Antarctica would make a perfect waste storage site.
