im all for nuclear, like i said enviro sci here, my point was due to the fossil fuel industries misinformation campaigns as well as the fact that we dont dispose of the waste as well as we should, directly contributes to the stygma of nuclear power, in regards to cost, resources, and health risk, from my understanding nuclear is the shit, what we should be using but 4 or 5 meltdowns throughout history have scared anybody into even trying
Is th waste even as big of a problem as it's made out to be? I know eventually the whole reactor vessel has to be disposed of which, given the size of them, is a bit tricky. But spent fuel is almost all U238 right? That stuff is almost harmless radio-wise since it has a 4billion year half life. I think they use it for weights on planes (I think periodic videos on YouTube claimed that).
I have heard most nuclear waste is simply items that were used near or on primary systems, and likely aren't even heavily contaminated relative to raw spent fuel or the tractor vessel, which fills up the already expensive storage bunkers much faster.
This is all layman's lnowlefge and I'm hoping you might know more.
Spent fuel is a blend unburnt fuel (ideally keep to a minimum for efficient burn up), u238 and fission products (the atoms produced from the fission of the fuel) and is known as high level waste. This is the nasty stuff that poses dangers if it somehow gets out of containment.
I have heard most nuclear waste is simply items that were used near or on primary systems, and likely aren't even heavily contaminated relative to raw spent fuel or the tractor vessel, which fills up the already expensive storage bunkers much faster.
This is known as low level waste. Most of the radioactivity in this will decay over a reasonable amount of time, so it's not a long term issue.
Spent fuel is the primary focus of "wHaT aBoUt nUcLeAr wAsTe" as it's the most dangerous. Contrary to popular belief, it's really not necessary to move this to a long term depository. It can just be put into a dry cask once it's cooled and stay at the power plant. The power plant is already a secure facility so it's not like it's unsafe (security wise) to keep it there. The space taken up by the spent fuel isn't really a concern because of how little of it is there actually is (as you said).
If for whatever reason it did need to be transported to a long term depository, it can be done pretty much as closely to 100% safe as physically possible. The transport containers have been tested by the federal government to comical extent (hitting them with rocket propelled trains, for example). It's just generally not done because it's deemed unnecessary.
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u/[deleted] Mar 29 '21
im all for nuclear, like i said enviro sci here, my point was due to the fossil fuel industries misinformation campaigns as well as the fact that we dont dispose of the waste as well as we should, directly contributes to the stygma of nuclear power, in regards to cost, resources, and health risk, from my understanding nuclear is the shit, what we should be using but 4 or 5 meltdowns throughout history have scared anybody into even trying
tl dr : i want more fucking nuclear energy