Nuclear waste products are bad news wherever we put it. But wouldn't it be safer for humans if we got it as far away as possible? Kurzgesagt explains why we haven't done it already. First, it would be expensive and we don't have the infrastructure. We might be able to overcome those mundane problems in the future, opening up several scenarios for launching nuclear waste into space. But in every one of those scenarios, the danger involved is terrifying.
The first scenario I thought of is one they don't even address. We launch nuclear waste into deep space, and it is intercepted by extraterrestrials. Their response would be, "You spent years and billions of dollars on space exploration and this is what you send us? How disrespectful. This means war!"
Wednesday, November 09, 2022
Why Don't We Shoot Nuclear Waste Into Space?
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Having worked in a number of nuclear power plants I was always amazed at the routine packing of barrels with trash that may or may not be contaminated at very low levels, just because it was an established routine. Come out wearing a paper/plastic suit, bam, in the barrel automatically, don't even have a procedure to sort out stuff that didn't get contaminated.
The Westinghouse system of the radioactive steam transferring the heat to non-radioactive steam that goes into the turbines, is a good idea.
The GE setup with the radioactive steam going through the turbines is cheaper by that means everything is contaminated. You can't even enter the turbine hall without protective gear that ends up in a barrel.
There's no way to justify the cost of the barrels, shipping, and disposal(indefinite storage) of non dangerous trash.
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