why cant we chuck radioactive material into subduction areas in the ocean

[Deleted]

I say send it to that great big incinerator in the sky!

Once space travel becomes cheaper I think that's exactly what will happen.

[Kraenen]

then the earth turns radioactive

[Deleted]

Its expensive, thats why.

If it gets affordable, we start doing it.
If we can afford dumping it into our sun, we start doing it.

Right now no one has the money for it.

[Deleted]

Why can't we just use geothermal and other sources of renewable, clean energy thereby eliminating the need to create and dump such hazardous wastes?

We'll still have nuclear waste, the largest source of nuclear waste is actually naturally occurring radioactive material ^^ than we indeed have waste from the powerplants ofc but that is not that much, about 1500kg for a 1gw reactor per year, we are also still stuck with medical and industrial nuclear waste. So even with renewable energy sources we would still have a problem.

[Zecora]

Because a wind powered car is hard to build and a geothermal powered car is going to be... well... stationary

It's just too bad that we don't have any form of technology that can store the energy we get from geothermal- and wind-powerplants in a portable format. I theorise that it could take the form of a portable box of something like that. perhaps with some kind of connectors that allowed you to transfer energy in and out of it. I know the idea sounds a bit batty, but I think it could really work! Hey...maybe we should name it after the batty-ness of the idea...battery or something like that?

[Grummgug]

It's just too bad that we don't have any form of technology that can store the energy we get from geothermal- and wind-powerplants in a portable format. I theorise that it could take the form of a portable box of something like that. perhaps with some kind of connectors that allowed you to transfer energy in and out of it. I know the idea sounds a bit batty, but I think it could really work! Hey...maybe we should name it after the batty-ness of the idea...battery or something like that?

We could operate them like cable cars. Or maybe like dodgems, just have a metal grill over top the road and a pole leading up to the top to pick up the energy.

[iscalio]

then the earth turns radioactive

The Earth is radioactive already; it's her natural state. Where do you think we are getting the uranium for our power plants in the first place? We dig it out of the ground.
Terrestrial radiation is present everywhere on Earth, mainly caused by Thorium 232, Uranium 235 and 238 and Potasssium 40. Storing all our radioactive waste within the Earth would have no effect on the radioactivity of our planet.

[Theinquisition]

The Earth is radioactive already; it's her natural state. Where do you think we are getting the uranium for our power plants in the first place? We dig it out of the ground.
Terrestrial radiation is present everywhere on Earth, mainly caused by Thorium 232, Uranium 235 and 238 and Potasssium 40. Storing all our radioactive waste within the Earth would have no effect on the radioactivity of our planet.

AHHH Thorium nuke plants, i admire thee

[StationaryHawk]

Why not just dump it in space, on the moon!

I wouldn't mind if the moon glowed green.

[bekilrwale]

Why don't we use the god damn billion dollar facility we ALREADY HAVE BUILT?

[Bakis]

I say, launch it into space!

[DEATHETERNAL]

Why can't we just use geothermal and other sources of renewable, clean energy thereby eliminating the need to create and dump such hazardous wastes?

Because it sounds fucking expensive I think.

Why not just dump it in space, on the moon!

Because it sounds fucking expensive I think.

I say send it to that great big incinerator in the sky!

sounds fucking expensive I think.

exactly what the title says we could easily find a uninhabited subduction zone where the earth is getting sucked down back into the mantle where it wont be moving for 10s of thousands of years unless there is a catastrophe that would already probably elminate most life forms on the planet?

it sounds fucking expensive I think.

I think you don't really know what a subduction zone looks like in reality. Just dumping it on the ocean floor will most likely not make it go underneath the adjoining plate.

We could operate them like cable cars. Or maybe like dodgems, just have a metal grill over top the road and a pole leading up to the top to pick up the energy.

it sounds fucking expensive I think.

Why don't we use the god damn billion dollar facility we ALREADY HAVE BUILT?

That really is all that needs be said on this entire thread. What we are doing now is the most cost effective solution to the issue. As technology advances, a better solution may be found, or the creation of said nuclear waste may cease.

[shise]

Because that would be the same as burying it in Central Park.


You can't really think that you can hide something forever in the ocean... even less when we don't even know the 80% of it.

[ati87]

I think the OP is trolling

[Deathpath]

Because there might be shark-people living down there and we wont want them to become radioactive-mutant-shark-people and come to the surface and kill us all. Seriously though its too far down and the current might push it to a lively part of the ocean and it would be expensive.

[Pachycrocuta]

It would probably be cheaper to gather it all up and once every 6 months or so just launch it into space. More environmentally friendly (for Earth) to do it that way. But, that is still too expensive, and companies will ALWAYS take the cheapest route, which is doing exactly what they are doing now.

[iggie]

Because a wind powered car is hard to build and a geothermal powered car is going to be... well... stationary

China/India will keep polluting no matter what car we drive.

[Jaxi]

Why can't we just use geothermal and other sources of renewable, clean energy thereby eliminating the need to create and dump such hazardous wastes?

Geothermal is nightmarish on equipment, solar and wind are have low dispatchable energy.

Look, I work in RP, and it's getting slightly annoying how many myths people hold on Nuclear Energy. Posting a thread like this invites speculation and ignorance, not discussion of facts.

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-co...t061-0055.html

Ask someone that works in the field, or check the website of the agency that regulates it.

[Nihilostromrage]

1 good reason to not dump radioactive waste in the ocean... Godzilla. We dont need more godzillas.

[Theodon]

It would only take a single instance of something going wrong, and then the currents of the ocean in question would become radioactive, and irradiate every location that current reaches. Some flow very close to others so you could potentially have radioactive waste spreading throughout every ocean on the planet.

If you wanted to bury it deep enough to not be a future issue if all goes well then it would cost a hell of a lot of money, and if something did go wrong then the cost to fix it wuld be astronomical, as would be the fallout even if it did get fixed.