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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday May 05 2020, @05:17AM   Printer-friendly
from the Not-in-my-back-yard dept.

One of the issues involving nuclear power has been what to do with the waste materials. What if there was a way to not only convert the problematic materials into a safer storage form, but also enable that same storage form to be used as fuel in newer nuclear power generators? Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it?
That may have changed:
https://phys.org/news/2020-05-reveals-single-step-strategy-recycling-nuclear.html

I would prefer more 'green' sources of energy production, but this is something that may be useful to help that along, making coal and petroleum energy production a part of history.

Journal Reference
Jeffrey D. Einkauf, Jonathan D. Burns. Recovery of Oxidized Actinides, Np(VI), Pu(VI), and Am(VI), from Cocrystallized Uranyl Nitrate Hexahydrate: A Single Technology Approach to Used Nuclear Fuel Recycling, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research (DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.0c00381)


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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Tuesday May 05 2020, @02:34PM (6 children)

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 05 2020, @02:34PM (#990699) Journal

    What if we were to store all the long-decay nuclear waste on the far side of the moon?

    Not in anyone's back yard.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Freeman on Tuesday May 05 2020, @02:40PM (1 child)

    by Freeman (732) on Tuesday May 05 2020, @02:40PM (#990703) Journal

    How would you get it there? The catastrophic failure mode of a rocket has minimal impact on the environment. The catastrophic failure mode of a rocket filled with nuclear waste, would be much worse for the environment. I wouldn't vote for it.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @03:26PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 05 2020, @03:26PM (#990738)

      OK then, well what if we put it in a big pile in the desert and nuke it? Like with hurricanes [theguardian.com]. Surely bleach would dissolve it? I've got all day what else do you need - hey can I get a loan?

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 06 2020, @09:58AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 06 2020, @09:58AM (#991017)

    That was literally the plot of it. The Earth stored all its spent nuclear waste on the far side of the moon, either sabotage or a stellar radiation even happened causing it to explode launching the moon out of Earth's orbit and sending them barrelling out of the solar system.

    While I doubt the adventures of the show would happen, it does raise concerns about inept storage leading to a nuclear event sufficient to destabilize the Moon's orbit around earth, or flinging debris off that severely hampers our transit out of near-earth space.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday May 06 2020, @07:40PM (2 children)

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 06 2020, @07:40PM (#991135) Journal

      I did see Space 1999.

      Once I saw Barbara Bain's acting, I then understood where they got the idea for Commander Data.

      --
      People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.
      • (Score: 2) by Bot on Thursday May 07 2020, @09:07PM (1 child)

        by Bot (3902) on Thursday May 07 2020, @09:07PM (#991456) Journal

        That's a pretty common objection in space 1999 reviews, but, given the context of people thrown into outer space, it seems quite weak to me, I like the series exactly because of the atmosphere in the first season. Space is cold, not a place to waltz or to play cowboys.

        --
        Account abandoned.
        • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday May 07 2020, @09:48PM

          by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Thursday May 07 2020, @09:48PM (#991465) Journal

          I did enjoy it somewhat.

          Outstanding things were:
          * sets
          * props

          Very good: (for the time)
          * special effects

          Alas, I was less happy with the stories. Some episodes better than others.

          The overall general plot of the entire series was something I had to suspend disbelief for even as a teen in the 1970's. The idea that the moon would travel to and beyond stars, through a black hole, etc. I did like the Queller drive episode. It's been a long time.

          The 2nd season was a step backward. Why did they screw up the main mission set? It was nice the way it was. And other changes.

          I also enjoyed the British UFO series, but alas I only got to see a few episodes as a kid, and didn't really get to see it until much later in life, about 2000 or thereabout.

          --
          People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.