alt Hacker NewsI don't think that's the case, if launch costs are low enough. The options you describe there are quite expensive. Reprocessing costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000/kg. Even fast reactor have trouble disposing of the seven very long lived fission products. A fully reusable launcher might get costs down to $10/kg to LEO. Even if one had to wrap the waste in 10x its mass in launch armor this could be much cheaper than reprocessing.
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lenerdenator • yesterday at 8:45 PM
The problem with launching anything into orbit using current rocket motor technologies is that heavier stuff costs more to put into orbit.
The elements that are used in nuclear reactors (particularly Uranium and Plutonium) are pretty dense, and thus heavy.
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Why would launch costs be low? $10/kg is fantasy land. UPS won’t ship a kilogram across the country for $10.
And who wants spent nuclear fuel in low earth orbit? This is a far worse location for spent fuel than buried in a bunker. This is a worse location than Times Square.