logoalt Hacker News

jlaroccotoday at 5:01 AM1 replyview on HN

I think storing nuclear waste was decided to be a bad idea a long time ago.

I'm not a nuclear scientist, but I was under the impression that if something is radioactive enough to be a hazard then it's radioactive enough to generate power.

Is that not the case?


Replies

Joel_Mckaytoday at 5:20 AM

A brand new Uranium fuel pellet is often safe to hold with gloved hands for a moment.

Spent fuel with complex decay isotopes must be kept under deep cooling pools with criticality control precautions. From a chemistry perspective, complex isotope products like Plutonium are more obscure to evolutionary biology, so it is often much more dangerous even in accidental trace exposures.

I am just a sentient turnip that prefers distributed Solar products. Have a great day =3