# Are there any consquences of sending nuclear wastes to Jupiter?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 24, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971 "2009-10-24T16:41:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/1 "2009-10-24T16:41:54Z")
I search for a related thread and found [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=514691&highlight=jupiter+nuclear), so I guess it is kind of a different tangent.
Safety and logistic issues aside, would there be any undesirable consequences if we load a ‘ship’ full of unwanted nuclear waste and send it to crash into Jupiter?
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/2 "2009-10-24T16:58:24Z")
Well, for one, what if we find we need the nuclear waste (e.g., for reprocessing into new nuclear fuel) and now it’s unrecoverable?
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### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/3 "2009-10-24T17:00:04Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#):
>
> I search for a related thread and found [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=514691&highlight=jupiter+nuclear), so I guess it is kind of a different tangent.
>
> Safety and logistic issues aside, would there be any undesirable consequences if we load a ‘ship’ full of unwanted nuclear waste and send it to crash into Jupiter?
why jupiter? The moon is a lot closer and takes a lot less energy to crash a spaceship into. What would be the negative consequences from crashing nuclear waste into the moon?
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/4 "2009-10-24T17:20:54Z")
> [@coremelt](#):
>
> What would be the negative consequences from crashing nuclear waste into the moon?
That sounds like a dare. Or famous last words. 😛
Nice username/post combo, btw.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/5 "2009-10-24T17:32:00Z")
Wait, is the Sea of Japan now off limits? Have we completely given up on creating mutated giant lizards?
Frakkin’ environmentalists.
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### Author:  [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/6 "2009-10-24T17:41:09Z")
For that matter, why any planetary body at all? Solar escape velocity from Earth is only about 42 km/s. How much net energy expenditure would be required to reach Jupiter specifically as opposed to just adding the little bit of extra velocity relative to Earth that would be necessary to escape the system entirely?
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### Author:  [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/7 "2009-10-24T17:45:18Z")
Well, the idea is that the atmosphere of Jupiter will be enough to destroy the waste, or make sure it won’t be ran into. For that purpose, Venus is fine too.
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### Author:  [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/8 "2009-10-24T17:58:57Z")
> [@CrazyChop](#):
>
> Well, the idea is that the atmosphere of Jupiter will be enough to destroy the waste, or make sure it won’t be ran into. For that purpose, Venus is fine too.
Why bother, though? The probability of it actually ever running into anything anybody would care about is almost certainly much, much lower than the probability that Jupiter’s clouds actually conceal an advanced civilization. So obviously we can’t fling it there. Somebody has to think of the Jovians! 😛
Space is big. Even if it were on a collision course with Proxima Centauri it would take 30,000 years to get there at 42 km/s, and it’s not going to be moving anywhere near that fast once it’s outside the Solar system. Flung off in a random direction, it would probably be millions of years before it even came _close_ to another star, and by then the nuclear waste would probably not be an issue.
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### Author:  [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/9 "2009-10-24T18:09:20Z")
> [@coremelt](#):
>
> why jupiter? The moon is a lot closer and takes a lot less energy to crash a spaceship into. What would be the negative consequences from crashing nuclear waste into the moon?
[I thought everyone knew.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space:_1999)
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### Author:  [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/10 "2009-10-24T18:37:10Z")
> [@Stealth\_Potato](#):
>
> Why bother, though? The probability of it actually ever running into anything anybody would care about is almost certainly much, much lower than the probability that Jupiter’s clouds actually conceal an advanced civilization. So obviously we can’t fling it there. Somebody has to think of the Jovians! 😛
>
> Space is big. Even if it were on a collision course with Proxima Centauri it would take 30,000 years to get there at 42 km/s, and it’s not going to be moving anywhere near that fast once it’s outside the Solar system. Flung off in a random direction, it would probably be millions of years before it even came _close_ to another star, and by then the nuclear waste would probably not be an issue.
> **[A Big Piece of Garbage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Big_Piece_of_Garbage)**
>
> "A Big Piece of Garbage" is the eighth episode in the first season of the American animated television series Futurama. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on 11 May 1999. The episode was written by Lewis Morton and directed by Susie Dietter. Ron Popeil guest stars in this episode as himself. Nancy Cartwright also has a brief cameo as a Bart Simpson doll. Much of the episode is a spoof of the 1998 film Armageddon; however, instead of Earth being threatened by an astero...
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/11 "2009-10-24T19:12:48Z")
The biggest objection is that it’d be really, really expensive. We can deal with nuclear waste perfectly safely, cleanly, and cheaply right here on Earth, so why would we want to pay insane amounts to dispose of it somewhere else instead?
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/12 "2009-10-24T19:28:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> The biggest objection is that it’d be really, really expensive. We can deal with nuclear waste perfectly safely, cleanly, and cheaply right here on Earth, so why would we want to pay insane amounts to dispose of it somewhere else instead?
No bid government contracts?
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### Author:  [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/13 "2009-10-24T19:28:12Z")
Even if it isn’t a particularly good idea, there really aren’t any negative consequences of crashing our nuclear waste into Jupiter, or even _most_ of the Jovian moons. However, we’re in a world of hurt if we crash something into Europa - so why chance it?
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### Author:  [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)
#### Post date: [October 24, 2009, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/14 "2009-10-24T20:51:40Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#):
>
> Even if it isn’t a particularly good idea, there really aren’t any negative consequences of crashing our nuclear waste into Jupiter, or even _most_ of the Jovian moons. However, we’re in a world of hurt if we crash something into Europa - so why chance it?
Good point there, about Europa. I guess my question can be considered answered.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/15 "2009-10-25T02:20:19Z")
Pfft. If you’re determined to ship it offworld, send it into the Sun. Burned up in a trice.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/16 "2009-10-25T03:36:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Pfft. If you’re determined to ship it offworld, send it into the Sun. Burned up in a trice.
Surely you’ve seen the threads detailing the problems involved with actually launching anything which will end up in the sun. Mucho dinero needed to get it to crash into it, rather than just slingshot elsewhere.
Besides, launch enough rockets with radioactive payloads, and eventually one of them will blow up in our sky, messing things up a bit.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2009, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/17 "2009-10-25T05:33:37Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#):
>
> Pfft. If you’re determined to ship it offworld, send it into the Sun. Burned up in a trice.
Yes, the sun and there’s no way it’ll ever come back. And the sun has quite a gravity pull, so once you get if off the Earth, just aim and you’re on your way.
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### Author:  [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2009, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/18 "2009-10-25T05:48:52Z")
[How Big is the Solar System?](http://www.noao.edu/education/peppercorn/pcmain.html)
Spoilers: if the sun were the size of a bowling ball, the Earth would a peppercorn, Jupiter would be a chestnut, those two planets would be at opposite ends of an American football field, and any nuclear waste barge launched from the Earth would be microscopic. Why send it at a planet at all?
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### Author:  [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2009, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/19 "2009-10-25T06:05:47Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Yes, the sun and there’s no way it’ll ever come back. And the sun has quite a gravity pull, so once you get if off the Earth, just aim and you’re on your way.
If it were that easy, the Earth would fall into the sun as well! The sun does have quite a gravitational pull, but as it happens that acceleration is precisely what is keeping the Earth in orbit, and it will do the same for your space junk. To actually land in the sun you would need to expend a huge amount of fuel counteracting your orbital velocity.
This comes up in [the thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=514691&highlight=jupiter+nuclear) linked by the OP. It would actually be easier to send the stuff to Jupiter.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2009, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-any-consquences-of-sending-nuclear-wastes-to-jupiter/514971/20 "2009-10-25T11:08:19Z")
Don’t send it to the Moon.
No, not explosions that would blast the Moon out of orbit, thus spawning one of the 70s finest TV series.
No, it might contaminate the water ice, needed for future colonization.
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