Comment on Green party drops longstanding opposition to nuclear power

tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

• Blisterexe@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  There is a plan. It’s putting it in the ground where it’s perfectly safe, just like the radioactive ore that’s also down there.

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  • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    So, you know that all the existing waste in the UK isn’t in the ground. It’s been in temporary storage at Sellafield for decades. No plans to bury it just yet.

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    • Blisterexe@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      How many people has that temporary storage killed, zero? It’s not really a problem

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  • davetortoise@reddthat.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    True, however the fact that its been around 70 years and we’ve still never been able to actually do this is a valid criticism. Even if the limited number of deep geological disposal projects all come online today, we’ll still be generating was much more quickly than we can bury it

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• prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Millions of years huh? Which material would that be, specifically? Since you’re clearly an expert on the subject.

  Also, breeder reactors exist. They literally re-process the spent fuel for more power.

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  • davetortoise@reddthat.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Breeder reactors are conceptually cool but nowhere near economical enough to be a practical solution at present. Only two still exist in the world, and both are operated in russia.

    Regardless, to run a breeder reactor you still need to separate out fission products from the waste, which we havent been doing since the 60’s or 70’s. The sensible thing to to with fuel is to reprocess it by PUREX/SANEX like we used to. But unfortunately we now have this giant building of screaming-hot unprocessed waste

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  • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Which one would you like me to pick? How about Iodine-129 with 15 million or so years?

    Have you been reading Russian propaganda again? Breefer reactors. Next you’ll be spouting the benefits of cold fusion for skin care.

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    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      France has used breeder reactors for years to great effect

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      • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨4⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

        Not true. The ones they used from the 1960s onwards were phased out by 2009. All were pretty much still in testing mode and never deployed at scale. The Superphenix (the last) was shut down over leaks and safety concerns. France’s nuclear are all now 100% Pressurised Water Reactors.

        So misinformation or worse, deliberate disinformation, in this thread.

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• _stranger_@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  It’s radioactive before you dig it up, and it’s radioactive after. The difference now is that we have the tech to keep using it as fuel after it’s “done”.

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  • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    So it’s ok to handle radioactive waste… with a shovel?

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    • _stranger_@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      The vast majority of the process is automated. I used to work with a guy who designed and tested nuclear plant automation. Makes Satisfactory look like stacking wood blocks.

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  • davetortoise@reddthat.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    It is far more radioactive afterward.

    After fuel has been in-pile for a full lifetime, it has fissioned, decayed and transmuted to the point where half the periodic table worth of radioactive isotopes have been produced and are all present in the same waste

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    • ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I mean, it’s called enriched uranium for a reason. 😅

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• Duhtocqueville@ttrpg.network ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

  Here’s a radical idea- store it.

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  • tenebrisnox@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

    Give that man a job! So, where are we going to store this utterly toxic material? If you bury it there’s a chance it’ll leak into the water supply. Maybe launch it in missles at at the moon?

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    • Duhtocqueville@ttrpg.network ⁨5⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago

      I don’t mean to be an absolutists and say it could never under any circumstances leak if handled poorly, but even if you just dumped it in a hole in the ground the odds are against that.

      We primarily don’t have long term storage for us becuase it’s too valuable and we’re only currently using a small percentage of its potential energy. In other words we are not done with it.

      Long term storage that exists like Yucca Mountain are heavily engineered to remove risk.

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