Questions about waste from nuclear power plants

[Chronos]

Then again, the Sun also produces ionizing radiation, which is why you get a burn if you stay out too long.

No radiation poisoning though.

I’m not actually sure about that… “Radiation poisoning” isn’t a direct result of the radiation itself; it’s ordinary chemical poisoning from the breakdown products of dead cells. Anything that kills a bunch of cells will cause similar poisoning.

Oh, and another option for high-level nuclear waste is to turn it back into fuel, to get more useful energy out of it. The opposition to this is mostly due to security concerns: The same processes used to turn the waste back into fuel could also be used to make weapon material, which some folks worry could fall into the wrong hands.

[friedo]

@Charlie_Wayne

Since you are listed as living in Brooklyn, I’m guessing you have been witness to some kind of demonstrations about that Indian Point power plant. Is that true? Do you know just how far Brooklyn is from Indian Point? How do you feel about living that distance away from that power plant?

Brooklyn is about 50 miles from Indian Point. IP is a very safe facility. And there are nuclear power plants that are closer to here than IP is. (Shoreham, for example.)

[Velocity]

@Charlie_Wayne

I’m fairly certain the program said that many thousands of people died in Japan. Something like 20 thousand or so.

That was from the earthquake and tsunami. Not nuclear/radiation caused.

[silenus]

As for the storage question, parking the stuff in the middle of White Sands has been advocated by some. Just encase the spent rods in glass and stick them in a fenced-off spot in the middle of nowhere. Put up a sign that says “If you go past this sign you will die.” No need to bury the stuff - we might need it someday. Why make it hard to get to?

[Amateur_Barbarian]

@Charlie_Wayne

I can’t recall any deaths ever due to a nuclear explosion since Aug. 9, 1945.

Three technicians were killed when the SL-1 reactor went supercritical in 1962. A nominally 100kW (or so) compact reactor, the accidental removal of a key control rod allowed the reactor to briefly hit a couple of GW, which instantly evaporated the coolant and blew off the top of the reactor. (One tech was pinned to the ceiling of the test building by control rods.) Probably as close to a “nuclear explosion” as anything not designed to explode has come.

[MarcusF]

@Whack-a-Mole

It is true we are surrounded by all sorts of radiation all the time. However, the kind of radiation we are exposed to constantly is not the kind to be generally worried about. Radiation from nuclear waste is of a sort that you definitely do not want to be exposed to.

In this case the nuclear waste produces ionizing radiation which is the kind of radiation that can damage DNA and cause cancer and other nasty things to happen.

Non-ionizing radiation not nearly as dangerous (although it can be too). For instance sticking your hand in a microwave will not make you radioactive nor will it damage your DNA but it WILL burn you as it starts to cook your hand (really no different than sticking your hand in an oven…just faster). No radiation poisoning though.

There is no difference in kind between the radiation from nuclear waste and the radiation we are exposed to from the environment. They both give alpha, beta, and gamma radiation (practically no neutrons) - the difference is the amount.

[Kent_Clark]

@friedo

The Yucca Mountain facility was supposed to be the nation’s designated nuclear waste dump, but a bunch of NIMBYs killed it. Despite the fact that it’s not in anyone’s back yard.

Yucca Flat may not be in anyone’s backyard, but the routes to Yucca Flat pass through a lot of back yards, and one route is exactly 1.97 miles from my back yard.

I happen to be pro-nuke, but big issues deserve serious discussion, not snark.