Kibbles said:
...I'm all for properly run nuclear power plants and all but my real concern is, where will the waste material go and will it reach my country?
So... would you happen to know if the nuclear waste processing centers that your country will be employing are based in or near the pacific region?
On 12/12/05 I addressed the nuclear waste problem with the following:
"As for the storage problem, I think it dangerous as currently done in US, basically on site - a tempting target for terrorists, but it could be safely shipped to 4 or 5 central well guarded facilities and stored for roughly a decade to let the shorter half-life isotopes decay. Then, it should be glassified (mixed with glass) to form a disk about an inch or two thick and foot in diameter*, so steady state temp is no more than 100 degrees C, which are then coated with a thin layer of pure glass - thick enough to stop the Alpha particles.
Ships with disk-hurling slings etc. or air guns, on their sterns steaming above a deep ocean trench should then send the disks on a multi-billion year trip much deeper into the earth. (The disk shape, instead of balls insures that they will not roll to any one low point and disperse much more that the ship can throw them. Glass is very strong in compression and will take any pressure the deepest trench can provide.) I.e. IMHO,
the waste is not a big problem and we can solve it with less than the current risk."
I do not know where "your country" is but one of the deepest trenches near US is just north of some Caribean Islands. Glass is also resistant to sea water attack. The disks will be yards deep in the sediment in less than 10,000 years and even then, you could still safely use a disk as you dinner plate with the advantage that your food would not get cold.
This disposal plan is very safe and economical. It is however some what a shame to throw away all the isotopes. Some can be used medically. For example to cure prostate cancer etc. Others can be used for fission power.
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*The total long-life-time isotopes produce by an "all electric" set of about 25 US familes, during the entire life of each member (100 years and 100 people), will fit in one disk! I.e. Two coast guard cutter sized ships would be more than adequate for the entire US even if all electric power were generated by nuclear energy, but specially designed ships with the disk load stored in a fat bottom and loaded into the sling guns automatically would be preferred as some gamma radiation would escape the disks.