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Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

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Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Germany did exactly the stupid thing they shouldn't have done. Instead of easily managing the waste above ground they threw it into a mine. You are literally making my point for me. Burring low level nuclear waste in Asse II would have been fine. Managing the high level nuclear waste above ground would have been preferable. Germany would have saved a lot of money and trouble if they had simply managed their high leve…

"The reality is in terms of safety there were 1000s of things happening in the 70s that damaged far more people then some nuclear waste management." Eh, no. You are making my point for me. All the "nuclear is safe and sustainable" propoganda hinges on getting a series of highly complex reactors all built and interoperating (well), and even then I am not clear that all the fuel is re-used, or that the "unspent" portio…

So many things wrong here. Even if you don't build any 'highly complex reactors' as you call them nuclear waste is safe.

Reduction of waste threw a reusable fuel cycle would reduce the amount of waste considerably but it isn't actually a necessary condition.

Geological storage is unproven and costs billions, but that you seem to ok with. That also involves a lot of steps and a lot of things that can go wrong.

> portions have some amazing-yet-not-yet-known use

We already know many of the potential use cases but I guess if you are not interested in production of medical isotopes to advance cancer research then I'm not sure what to tell you.

Right now we build new reactors only to make these isotopes and the are incredibly limited and only available to a limited set of people.

Equally the storage of nuclear batteries has run out and NASA and other space agencies are desperately to start producing them again.

> It's really not fine, as you state we are quite good at making mistakes and bungling things, adding more factors into the equation increases the risk of something going wrong

It also increases the risk of bringing sustainable reliable green energy, advances in nuclear technology with many application and high paying jobs in the local economy rather then putting up some solar panels produced in China.

> unproven theories that we think quite possibly are wrong

The theories are not unproven. Its simply a matter of doing the engineering, nobody really questions that these things are possible. Its just a matter of having the funds. Instead of every country spending billions digging a hole, investing in next generation technology is just obviously a better idea. For the price of the nuclear repository Switzerland is planning they could literally build a whole fleet of new reactors to power the country.

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A thief is mostly just scifi nonsense. Most Earthquakes would damage the casks. Unless its right on the fault line this at best causes some damages that would have to be repaired. This is incredibly unlikely to ever happen in most of the world. Also burring the casks is more likely to cause issues in case of a major unexpected earth quake. This is one of those maybe ever few 100 years somebody has to move the casks.…

"A thief is mostly just scifi nonsense." Yes, militaries, secret services and terrorists don't exist. Russia/China/USA don't exist and wouldn't find it incredibly convenient to cause major damage to each other by "leaking" these stockpiles. Added benefit, it only would kill those exposed and leave machinery untouched. Nobody would ever steal stuff like this. /S

The old 'what if evil terrorist' nonsense.

Terrorist would hurt 1000x more people buy destroying the rails along a high speed train route.

Stealing nuclear waste is incredibly hard and borderline useless.

And Russia and China don't need to attack civilian nuclear waste, if they want to nuke you they can just do that.

Do you actually really believe a general in Russia is sitting around thinking 'mhh we can make the civilian nuclear waste leak and then maybe the cancer rate is slightly higher in 20 years'.

To actually come up with a scenario where a country is seriously hurt by civilian nuclear waste takes about 3 tin foil hats on top of each other. And the is proven by the reality that civilian nuclear casts are standing around lots of places barley protected and have been doing so for many decades with nobody giving a shit.

Be more afraid that China pays for pro-smoking ads on twitter, because that's gone cause more cancer.

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now you are proving my original argument. If society collapses to a point where engineers can't handle some well contained radioactive waste then you have far bigger problems then nuclear waste. The idea that our primary worry should be that maybe in 300 years countries will be unable to handle this simple technical task that the US figured out in 1960s is bananas. We are not talking about active nuclear weapons…

"The idea that our primary worry should be that maybe in 300 years countries will be unable to handle this simple technical task that the US figured out in 1960s is bananas." I suggest you open a history book. It is quite likely the same countries that exist today do not exist in the future and the same knowledge does not either. Furthermore it is not necessarily about being unable to understand some physics and proc…

The most likely scenario is that at some point next 300 years we figure out advanced fission or fusion and if we do so burning that waste up isn't that big a deal.

If the danger were a nuclear explosion destroying a city, then you would have point.

But its not, the danger is maybe a slightly leaking cask could maybe lead to slightly higher cancer rates in a certain area.

> So you must store 1000 more times the fuel for it to be truly sustainable

Instead of one 1 football field it might be 1000 over the next 10000 years. Yeah horrible, we can't possible spare 1000 football fields full of parking lots.

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What books last 10000 years? What writing is performed today on a medium that will last that long? No one is carving into clay any more

The one in text files. Data is already extremely cheap and there are many horders and archivists. I would bet that if advanced civilisation still exists in 10,000 years, they'll have an archived version of Wikipedia from around this century. (And probably quite a few weirdos will still keep replicating the bible)

We have no way to know, either way, what humanity will look like 10k years from now.

We might have disassembled every planet within a few thousand light years to englobe each corresponding star within a Dyson swarm.

We might have suffered a cataclysm that almost wiped us out, and have only just returned to the equivalent of the early industrial age, and the occasional remaining patch of carved rock writing from our time is as unreadable to those living in that new world as 𐘃𐘅𐘈𐘊 𐘌 𐘍𐘎𐘑 𐘖 𐘗𐘂𐘆𐘋𐘐 𐘇𐘆 𐘊 𐘑𐘉𐘂𐘆𐘊 𐘇𐘆𐘋 𐘐 𐘇𐘆𐘑𐘐𐘅𐘋 𐘐 𐘏𐘏𐘈𐘊𐘑 𐘉𐘂 𐘏𐘏𐘈 𐘊𐘏 𐘏𐘐 𐘐𐘅𐘊𐘍𐘈 𐘇 𐘆𐘑 𐘐𐘅𐘊 𐘍𐘈𐘇𐘆𐘑𐘐 is to us.

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or somebody spends 100$ on a Geiger counter ... Nuclear waste will not simply be lost. The only way it gets lost if society literally collapses. And if that happens the small amount of nuclear waste is the least important problem anybody will have.

Nuclear waste has been lost multiple times throughout history and has killed people. Kind of amazing someone could think it cannot happen. https://www.nti.org/analysis/articles/overview-of-the-cns-gl...

That report includes radiation sources which are much more radioactive and much smaller than nuclear waste from power plants. Small radioactive sources can be easily lost or stolen due to their size. Nuclear waste from a power plant is larger being mostly fuel rods or irradiated containers and is stored and transported in large containers that are not easily lost or stolen. Making an argument based on that report also covers arguing against the use of radioactive materials in healthcare and industry since that is where most of the small losable isotopes are employed.

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#226

I just don't like this, a huge amount of money spent for nothing. This fuel can be managed just fine above ground. Yes maybe ever couple 100 years you might have to move it, who cares. If your society isn't capable managing nuclear waste then nobody will care anymore anyway. Also, this is not 'waste' there are interesting and unique materials there that might be relevant in the next 100+ years. Not to mention that th…

This sheer ignorance around nuclear energy is the main reason I'm happy it already peaked in the Western World and is replaced by safe and clean renewable energies. I mean, you don't even have to look far these days. It's Finland. You know...the country just around the corner of our old and new arch enemy, Russia. And you want to create an additional target for sabotage? Also, you're talking about wasting money? Repr…

This has to be repeated again and again. Civilian nuclear waste isn't really a good great target for sabotage. There are 1000 places to attack that are far cheaper and have higher effect.

> Reprocessing is hilariously expensive, and they don't even have a facility.

So you know about every form of re-procession that will ever be invented and already know the associated costs.

> No country in the Western World will ever build one again

Canada is planning one right now to reprocess spend CANDU fuel.

> The end product is more expensive than new fuel.

This equation changes if you add the cost of storage facility the new fuel as well.

> Especially taxpayer money.

Finnland even with its very expensive new reactor now produces stable green energy and this reactor captial investment will pay off 80-100 years.

> Finland had to shut down

Funny how Finalnd with lots of nuclear has far greener energy with less money investment then Germany. Finland didn't make a 20 year propaganda campaign to claim they are so great and green, they just build a reactor and are fine now.

If you shit on a nuclear reactor for being turned off, boy I have news for you about wind and solar.

Lets actually look at data rather then what lives in your imagination:

https://app.electricitymaps.com/map

Mhh look at that Finland has green energy thanks to nuclear power.

You can do the math. Had Germany started building nuclear reactors, even with conservative cost estimate. Nuclear would have been a far better deal then the 'Energiewende' they actually did. Starting in 2000 building nuclear reactors at rates like France did in the 70/80s would have lead to a far, far greener grid then they have now.

My calculation result in about 4-5% of debt to GDP increase for a full build-out to 100% nuclear energy starting in 2020. And those reactors would last 60-100 years. Unlike the investments they actually did, lots of wind turbines and solar that have to be replaced 2 times over until then.

Nuclear for France has been on of the best public investments ever done. Minimal impact on taxes and cheap long term stable fuel prices for literally half a century.

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#227
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the world runs out of cheap uranium very quickly. Citations ?

World uranium resource information is readily available. For example: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-c... gives a resource, as of 2017, of 8 million tonnes. Note that the recent expansion in uranium exploration didn't increase the resource very much. A 3000 MW(th) thermal burner reactor uses about 250 tonnes of natural uranium per year. https://material-properties.org/what-is-natural-urani…

Thanks for the references, I was always under the impression that uranium was a relatively abundant material. I tend to agree with @credit_guy in that we always tend to find more of the natural resources when the need presents itself. However according to your link, the grow of stock/newly discovered uranium is quite slow... kinda concerning

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sheer ignorance around nuclear energy is the main reason I'm happy it already peaked in the Western World and is replaced by safe and clean renewable energies. I mean, you don't even have to look far these days. It's Finland. You know...the country just around the corner of our old and new arch enemy, Russia. And you want to create an additional target for sabotage? Also, you're talking about wasting money? Repr…

This has to be repeated again and again. Civilian nuclear waste isn't really a good great target for sabotage. There are 1000 places to attack that are far cheaper and have higher effect. > Reprocessing is hilariously expensive, and they don't even have a facility. So you know about every form of re-procession that will ever be invented and already know the associated costs. > No country in the Western World will eve…

> This has to be repeated again and again. Civilian nuclear waste isn't really a good great target for sabotage. There are 1000 places to attack that are far cheaper and have higher effect.

Sure...there is the nuclear reactor around the corner...

What is this sentence even based upon? Do you have some strategic study on that? Because they're investing a hell lot of money to protect that stuff.

> So you know about every form of re-procession that will ever be invented and already know the associated costs.

Please tell me of that magic forms of reprocessing which are somewhere even at the far horizon.

> Canada is planning one right now to reprocess spend CANDU fuel.

There is a lot "in planning" and has been for decades, not much came of it. Even with those reactors currently being build...besides rising costs of course.

> This equation changes if you add the cost of storage facility the new fuel as well.

How does it if nobody wants to buy your overpriced fuel you still have to mix with actual fresh fuel which you can get cheaper? Do you want to force them to take it after you wasted so much money on it? To what end? It doesn't go away. You'll still have to store it in the end, just like the stuff which gets created during the process. The process actually generates more stuff you have to store...

> Finnland even with its very expensive new reactor now produces stable green energy and this reactor captial investment will pay off 80-100 years.

The fact that they already had to reduce output because the actual price on the market is far below what they produce already shows that it will take much longer. Longer then the thing will run.

> Funny how Finalnd with lots of nuclear has far greener energy with less money investment then Germany. Finland didn't make a 20 year propaganda campaign to claim they are so great and green, they just build a reactor and are fine now.

The only "funny" thing about that paragraph (and the whole comment) is the use of greenwashing.

Other than that: Germany has done much more for the implementation of truly green energy around the world than any of those "nuclear countries" you've mentioned here. Today, humans on the farthest corners of this planet can afford to have electricity, and it's not because of a nuclear reactor in their backyard.

> If you shit on a nuclear reactor for being turned off, boy I have news for you about wind and solar.

The difference between turning off wind or solar is that it works almost instantly and without creating additional costs. It's called flexibility. Flexibility in power generation is a concept from the future. You should read it up. It's cheap and clean. Unlike with nuclear, where countries like France (back when their fleet wasn't rotting around) have to sell for peanuts on the EEX because it's too expensive and problematic to reduce power on the reactor. Not even talking about a real shut down here.

> Had Germany started building nuclear reactors, even with conservative cost estimate. Nuclear would have been a far better deal then the 'Energiewende' they actually did. Starting in 2000 building nuclear reactors at rates like France did in the 70/80s would have lead to a far, far greener grid then they have now.

This is hilarious. Germany replaced their nuclear fleet years ago. Why would they need to waste money on a technology from the past? Especially because not even France can build reactors at rates like France did in the 70/80s...

How didn't you know that? It's a running joke for years.

> My calculation

Your calculations are useless if you don't even know about those astronomical cost explosions and delays around nuclear reactors in Europe...

> And those reactors would last 60-100 years.

This is hilarious. How did you miss all those news about the rotting fleet in France?

> Nuclear for France has been on of the best public investments ever done. Minimal impact on taxes and cheap long term stable fuel prices for literally half a century.

The price is fixed by the government. It's called tarif blue and the company selling the stuff had to be nationalised...again. Such a "great" business...

How didn't you know that...too...?

We both know why: you grabbed those talking points from the Astro Turf and their followers without checking anything of it.

Re: Finland's plan to bury spent nuclear fuel for 100k years

#230
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can not just go around and develop land today. First you need to take a survey, soil samples, water quality control, and then during digging and construction there are all kind of different dangerous. Most countries in EU still have a bunch of bombs in the ground left over from world war 2, and they will be there until someone finds them and disarms them. Soil and water contamination from industry is anyone guess…

I think the argument is clearly trite, .docx seems like a joke, and very more likely within the hundreds to thousands of years, people probably won’t even speak Finnish there anymore.

I find the argument that they will need to speak Finish to be boring. Why should they in hundreds to thousands of years need to read an ancient document to figure out whats below the ground. It is not a realistic problem.
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