Over 60,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel are stored across Europe (excluding Russia and Slovakia), most of
which in France (Table 1). Within the EU, France accounts for 25 percent of the current spent nuclear fuel,
followed by Germany (15 percent) and the United Kingdom (14 percent). Spent nuclear fuel is considered
high-level waste. Though present in comparably small volumes, it makes up the vast bulk of radioactivity.
A quick question . Other than a suprisingly lot of complexity involved in diggin the hole of sufficient size and depth why wouldnt it work ( or is that the reason )?
It would work. Much like every other sweeping of something under the rug, hiding it elsewhere for it to be a problem later always works for the person throwing it away.
After all, why would we ever wish to extract the remaining U238 from the spent fuel? We utilised a full 4%, let’s call that square and throw the rest down a hole. Perish the thought we’ll ever need to dig near this massive radioactive hole. Or that an undiscovered cycle of nature causes it to come back to bite us. Just throw it down there with the rest of the resources we never want to safely explore, and who cares if there’s something valuable within it’s sphere of radioactivity.
Apologies for the sarcasm. I consider the idea both wasteful and foolish.
I’m a fan of both Thorium and Molten-Salt Reactors.
Weight is a way to make the problem sound worse than it is, because nuclear waste is so incredibly dense. It’s not enough to be a big deal yet. Dumping it deep into the ocean is an option, but it’s only going to happen to waste that doesn’t have potential uses first.
~ 2019 https://worldnuclearwastereport.org/
Last “brilliant” plan I heard was dumping it in a hole deep enough we’d never need, nor be able to recover it.
A quick question . Other than a suprisingly lot of complexity involved in diggin the hole of sufficient size and depth why wouldnt it work ( or is that the reason )?
It would work, they’re just a hater.
It would work. Much like every other sweeping of something under the rug, hiding it elsewhere for it to be a problem later always works for the person throwing it away.
After all, why would we ever wish to extract the remaining U238 from the spent fuel? We utilised a full 4%, let’s call that square and throw the rest down a hole. Perish the thought we’ll ever need to dig near this massive radioactive hole. Or that an undiscovered cycle of nature causes it to come back to bite us. Just throw it down there with the rest of the resources we never want to safely explore, and who cares if there’s something valuable within it’s sphere of radioactivity.
Apologies for the sarcasm. I consider the idea both wasteful and foolish.
I’m a fan of both Thorium and Molten-Salt Reactors.
So a hole with an elevator then?
Weight is a way to make the problem sound worse than it is, because nuclear waste is so incredibly dense. It’s not enough to be a big deal yet. Dumping it deep into the ocean is an option, but it’s only going to happen to waste that doesn’t have potential uses first.