Notebook: Nuclear Waste (CBS News)

[PrecisionTieDye]

There is certainly no doubt about where radium came from in my mind. People of America WAKE UP a very few wealthy are killing us in the lust for pieces of paper and personal greed THEY MUST BE STOPPED!!

[bigsid43]

why don't they just bury the nuclear waste on mars or the moon...

and get it out our faces?

[tschuju]

@bigsid43 they think bout shooting the nuclear waste in the space but it also has many disadvantages...

[ThePt73]

@bigsid43

probalbly cause the shit is so heavy, you couldn´t get it off the planet without spending more energy than you ever retained from "burning" it. Apart from the fuel rods, you would have to "ship" most of the facilities as well.

[NV4CFE]

NV4CFE is a group of Nevadans who support a temporary repository at Yucca Mountain along with a plan to reprocess much of the waste, in exchange for compensation to Nevada residents. This would help solve our nation's nuclear waste problem and Nevada's struggling economy.

[Richbund]

No one is talking about "Cold Fusion"

We spend trillions on hot fusion and very little on cold fusion with no results from hot fusion and yet we do get some results from cold fusion. Why aren't we spending trillions on cold fusion? There are many credible physicists in reputable institutions that have achieved some results from cold fusion. With funding they will find the answers they need... With Fusion, there is no dangerous by products unless you consider helium dangerous.

[Weenchit]

Store it in my backyard. I have no problem with it.

[Darkwizzrobe]

dump it into the ocean

[jtblack1414]

NIMBY

[edinBul]

Yes , Cate burn more billions of tons of coal as for sure the technology for converting the CO2 into concentrated useful energy is just 5 - 10 years away ... and do spent some more billions on graving the crappy nuclear waste, because you cannot handle it ....

[melovepeas]

doing a project, not doing so well.

[morcom2009]

Im not a rocket scientist or a engineer, but why are we making nuclear power and such if we cant even dispose of the waste? What do you think will happen eventually?

[Darkwizzrobe]

Its a major power source and there are several ways to dispose of it. Its just that all of them aren't perfect but why do we have it well it supplys 20% of our energy not to meantion some contrys go even higher like france gets 80% of its energy from nuclear. Also its one of the cleanest forms of energy on the planet even considering refining and reprocessing.

[Deanjunkie666]

my best guess is that we use it because it is such a powerful element, and to probably maintain an observation for scientific studies as we use it. but the radiation is the biggest problem with it, whether it's a bomb or a power plant it's going to be there. and of course: our government always thinks they can handle anything until the problem becomes too big.

[jimius]

We can dispose of the waste, feeder-breeder reactor run on "waste" and make new feul in the process. But in this process of recycling weapons grade plutonium is released. So it's not a technical problem, but a political one.

Nuclear proliferation is prohibited through many international treaties which makes recycling nuclear materials a political mess, not a technical one.

[mpwelk]

I'd rather have Rather, you miserable attempt by CBS to sex viewers in to your news cast.

[michael49022]

Shooting it into space is not a safe option.

If something went wrong with the launch it could explode on the pad or a few hundred miles over your city and rain radioactive waste down. Storing it underground is the safest way found yet. When science finds a better way it can be opened up and disposed of. Or better yet have the waste treated and made into more nuclear fuel like some other countries all ready do.

[catgumart]

I've got it! We should build Nuclear power plants in space..on a space station, store the energy in some type of accumulator for use here on earth...then the waste can be released, into space from the space station. maybe with improved technology we can do something like this.

[mpwelk]

Go back to the gossip show, Katie.

[wavefool]

During a recent trip to Washington my carry on bag set off some detector at Dulles. I was detained and held in isolation while the problem was investigated. It seems the Iridium dial on my Rolex Submariner watch set off the sensors. "I guess I'm the only guy in the world that has gone to DC with a real Rolex." This was the statement given to me by an an Official from the TSA. Nice to know someone was watching.

[CONSERVATIONmatters]

America Wastes over 70% of the Energy it Consumes.

(1) 100's of millions of lights burn unnecessary during the day and night.

(2) We over heat and over cool our homes, businesses, offices, schools, churches, etc... (government buildings waste the most).

Global warming continues to increases with our persistent waste and

overuse of fossil fuels.

The incentives necessary to create sustainable and renewable energy supplies

can ONLY occur when we implement the economics of TAXING ENERGY.

[rollsrox]

just feed the stuff to a fat guy

[pf91rodman]

send that shit to the moon

easy stuff

[RWDtech]

"send that shit to the moon

easy stuff"

yeah...at the cost of billions of dollars

[pf91rodman]

it will take a long time to get nuclear waste.about 30 or more years of nuclear waste can fit in a rocket

[RWDtech]

who says a rocket filled with 30 years worth of nuclear waste can even take off?

[rollsrox]

they should make the nuclear plants on the moon, then just run a long ass extension cord to earth. Whack on a couple of power boards at ground level and then everyone can use it. There. Problem solved!!

[RWDtech]

"they should make the nuclear plants on the moon, then just run a long ass extension cord to earth."

LOL nice!

[dannyc9997]

we could have electric cars running on extention cords too!! fantastic idea lol

[catgumart]

No dont put it on the moon, build simple space barges, and send them right into the direction of the sun, these "space junk barges" do not have to be built to the same quality as manned space vehicles. just something basic that can get the waste to the sun and incinerated, the moon we may want to keep clean, but the sun is a nuclear reacter itself and it is 1,000,000 times larger than the earth,

[pf91rodman]

right...even better

genius idea

[ravenhurstvids]

That would only cost about billions of dolars that is definetly not basic, you need to have machines to launch it , and how does it get to the sun, it would need some type of engine, and that is not basic one bit

[catgumart]

I dont think it would be as expensive or as difficult as you are implying , a voyager probe is already leaving the solar system, they have something called gravity assisted speed boosts, but these machines are doing stuff like photographing planets and have all sorts of complicated technological tools, this would be containers of waste rocketed directly at the sun, probably the sun's gravity could do most of the work. I really think we could devise a cost efficient way to do this.

[ravenhurstvids]

that sounds pretty good I have trouble arguing with that

[catgumart]

I said the sun was 1,000,000 times bigger than the earth, but I was incorrect, sorry about that mistake. The sun is actually 109 times bigger than the earth, but I think that is still big enough to incinerate our non bio-degradable and nuclear waste without any problem.

[tysontomaszewicz]

@catgumart actually, 1 300 000 earth would fit in the sun, volume wise.

[mycatisromeo]

simple solution - make women infertile or men impotent. and in 100 years, the world can begin getting backt to normal.

[ColectvIndvidulism9]

When I lived in Washington state, the public was just becomming concerned over a nuclear waste site that was south of us. Where I lived G.P. just left and it was discovered that the company had left a great deal of toxic waste in old abandoned mines, etc. Hats off to Katey for bringing up issues that we CAN solve.

[fairwitness1111]

Oh no. We can't use nuclear power. Just increase coal production, rape the landscape, allow miners to be buried alive every now and then, and dump tons upon tons of CO2 into the air every minute. Or just buy more oil from the Saudis.

Just because nuclear power is providing 80% of France's electricity needs doesn't mean we have to do the same.

BURN MORE COAL!!!!

[donimic13]

haha

WELL PUT MY FRIEND

the accident rate with nuclear power is much smaller than coal or natural gas.

the waste is a HUGE problem. my suggestion is shipping it into space and dumping it in the vaccum of space, possibly millions of miles away, in containers that have a timed opening, so that the nuclear waste will disperse throughout the vastness os space, once the carrier ship is safely away

we need to find a more efficiant way to travel in space though, and a safe way to get there

[phazer277]

Good one! Since everyone is so scared of radiation, go ahead and breath that nice big alpha particle that is emitted during the coal burning process!

[lowgrau]

The sad fact is, the answer is probably, NO.

[MNGProductions]

I'm not really sure how I should about this, nuclear power is something we are becoming more and more dependent on espically as our nation's population grows. Would it be possible to find a safe and efficent way to recycle nuclear energy?

[0410warner]

I dunno.

maybe you should find the answer, then you'll be rich

[thrummer1953]

There is,they are called "breeder reactors"& can reduce nuclear waste aprox.80%.