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Originally Posted by hvatum
I didn't say we should do that. Metal drums? Never heard of anyone burying nuclear waste in metal drums, is this a technology you are developing?  |
My first patent: 2245413
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France reprocesses it, reducing volume by 70% and removing the longer lasting isotopes, these longer lasting isotopes actually make usable fuel again. The leftover waste is not nearly as long lasting, within 10,000 years the amount of Amercium will not be notable. Only neptunium will be left over in waste that was well processed using PUREX, but that's a tiny percent of the waste.
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Hey, only 10,000 years...as long as we're not burdening our children with the byproduct of our greed.
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The only reason we here in the US are talking about storing waste for 300,000 years or whatever is that we banned reprocessing, so instead it all has to get buried in Yucca mountain suspended in porcelain flasks which could even be crushed and smashed without releasing radioactivity - only a volcano would have the potential to release the isotopes, but then it would just be suspended in magma. Anyway, if it weren't for the silly "environmentalists" stopping us from reprocessing then we wouldn't have to worry about storing long lasting Uranium or Plutonium isotopes. 
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I thought the reprocessing issue centered around nuclear proliferation. After India demonstrated it could build bombs from reprocessed fuel, Carter nixed our nation's use of that technology. France, the United Kingdom, and Japan, who had already invested heavily in to the technology, kept going. While the PUREX method produces very little weapon's grade plutonium, the potential exists.
Environmentalists...who likes those willing to call a glutton fat? I think we should rip up the world's rivers and valleys looking for uranium while mountain topping the world's peaks for coal. Then, when we run out of all these non-renewable resources we can panic all over again. My vote is for nuclear power, hummers for all, and sweat shop slavery...
Alright, I'll stop being rude right...now.
- LostCause