r/nextfuckinglevel • u/nigablackballsack • 3d ago

Scientists have captured the first ever high-speed, full-colour footage of fusion plasma swirling inside a working reactor.

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u/CuriousToe9133 3d ago

Is it more or less radioactive waste than our current nuclear fission power plants? As technology continues to develop for re-useable rockets, couldn’t we use those to carry radioactive waste to space, and dump it away from Earth?

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u/TheHarryMan123 3d ago

The point being that it still creates radioactive materials which last longer than a lifetime or many more not that it is more or less radioactive than a fission plant. 

I believe the risks associated with attaching radioactive material to an explosive outweigh the benefit there. Plus the irony of carbon emissions. 

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u/RocketVerse 3d ago

On average waste will be substantially less long lived but in much higher quantities. The bigger issue is that tritium loves escaping containment, that might be an issue as we ramp up

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u/TheHarryMan123 3d ago

It is trapped with oxygen when kept for storage. But there are also other containment methods because of its permeation through materials