what can be done to insure the safety of generations to come, regarding the disposal of atomic waste?

Answer 1

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It is a citizen (ie all of us) commitment to present and future generations to keep radioactive materials out of the biosphere. Recognizing the extreme damage these materials inflict on all life-forms and their genetic codes, Nuclear Guardianship requires:
- interim containment of radioactive materials in accessible, monitored storage, so that leaks can be repaired, and future technologies for reducing and containing their radioactivity can be applied;

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- cessation of the production of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy;

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Answer 2

of all the disposal system i have heard of, there is only 1 that guarantees permanent safety, thats dump it into the sun.

bit expensive right now, but once the space elevator and solar sails have been perfected, it will be pretty cheap

for now, burrying it in granite cliffs should do the trick

an important thing to remember is that there isnt a huge amount of primary waste (uranuim and plutonium), world wide total primary waste so far is about the size of a large office block. secondary waste (contaminated materials) now thats a problem

Answer 3

The very best plan would be to reprocess the waste, so all the long half-life nucleotides are removed and sent back into the fuel rod process.

Then you don't really have to worry about accidental exposure to hot waste centuries from now. It would all be degraded down to non-radioactive stuff like lead.

Answer 4

this was a long time ago but I wonder if it is still feasible but the best way is solidify with glass to make it a solid so it doesn't leak out of the container and contaminate ground water. I read this a while ago in science magazine.

Answer 5

Dumping into the sun, thats brilliant because of its simplicity. Why have i never heard or thought about that...?

Answer 6

Pile it up on the far side of the Moon.


Doug