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/sci/ - Science & Math

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3518990 No.3518990 [Reply] [Original]

Here from /g/ because I'm an idiot...

I remember reading about nuclear waste management on wikipedia about 5 months ago, and saw something about prototype plants in Europe that uses nuclear transmutation to process nuclear waste into safe waste, and generate a small amount of power at the same time.

Does anyone know about this? I can't find a reference to it anymore, is it bogus, was I just on crack that day? Does such a plant really exist? What's it called?

Captcha: xfood* forkern

>> No.3518996

Its currently illegal in the united states, because we want to stock pile our nuclear waste so we can use it again. 'merika is dumb yo.

But they do want to take our tar sands and ship them across their entire country, which is extremely stupid. But hey, less tar sands in alberta is good.

>> No.3519005

>>3518996
>both american and canadian
wut

>> No.3519011

>>3518996
>Its currently illegal in the united states

Soooo... it exists? What's it called?

>> No.3519013

It's called Nuclear Reprocessing

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_reprocessing

You take dangerously radioactive 'waste' from one reactor, and burn it in another reactor.

Keep doing this until you can no longer get enough energy out of the 'waste'.

What's left is a small fraction of the waste you started with, and it will only be dangerously radioactive for a couple hundred years instead of thousands or millions. Because there's so little waste, it's also easier to store.

>> No.3519015

>>3519005
called dual citizenship brah

>> No.3519020

Furthermore, it's illegal in the states because of Jimmy Carter.

The issue is that reprocessing plants can be used to create weapons-grade material. So Jimmy Carter made these plants illegal.

France currently utilizes a wide range of different Nuclear Reactors to burn and reprocess their waste.

>> No.3519022

Hrm, I coulda swore the one I read was just a second stage plant that converted it into non radioactive waste. That's really close though, thanks! :)

>> No.3519062

>>3518990
Theres reprocessing. But if you're talking prototypes that use regular nuclear "waste" to generate power and produce less, shorter lived waste at the end, then you're talking about shit like Integral Fast Reactors. Gen IV technology.