Operated from 1972 to 1996 and produced 119 billion kilowatt hours of energy
Dry cask storage is a method for safely storing spent nuclear fuel after it has cooled for several years in water pools. Once the fuel rods are no longer producing extreme heat, they are sealed inside massive steel and concrete casks that provide both radiation shielding and passive cooling through natural air circulation—no water is needed. Each cask can weigh over 100 tons and is engineered to resist earthquakes, floods, fire, and even missile strikes. This makes it a robust interim solution until permanent deep geological repositories are available. The casks are expected to last 50–100 years, though the fuel inside remains radioactive for thousands. Dry cask storage reduces reliance on crowded spent fuel pools, provides a secure above-ground option, and buys time for nations to develop long-term disposal strategies. In essence, it’s a durable, self-contained “vault” for nuclear waste
In other words, kicking the can down the road. "I hope they find a solution, but I don't care. I'll be dead by then."
The casks are continuously recertified for as long as the material needs to be held. Radioactive material decays into non radioactive elements over the course of its half life. This is not kicking the can down the road.
The nuclear energy industry is the safest industry anyone has ever worked in, and it is intentionally so. Please go watch any number of resources on this fact.
That's not what half life is.
Oh, this is not some idiot but rather some LLM propaganda bot. That explains the braindead comment on half-life times...
Stick with the personal insults if you dont understand something.
You dont understand half lives, which is okay. As radioactive elements decay, they follow very predictable decay chains, typically ending at lead. This can happen many ways, from alpha decay (emitting the equivalent of a helium atom from the nucleus) to positron emissions. Uranium specifically will undergo an "alpha decay chain" bringing it all the way from Uranium with an atomic number of 92 to lead with an atomic number of 82.
This looks like a very rapid decay of Uranium->Thorium->Radium->Radon->Polonium->Lead.
The great part of Lemmy is that there are very few bots, at least in my (anecdotal) experience. And again, Im.not going to call you names, but I must insist you educate yourself on the state of the nuclear energy industry and the amount of safety procedures that it employs.
Or at least, like..present a rebuttal? You just said "nuh uh, youre a bot". Pretty lame.
Your sentence:
Reality:
And in 10 half life times, you still have 1/1024 of the original material / radiation. Try being smarter and less of a smartass.
That's just pedantic. They aren't wrong. You just used slightly different language
Also, you're being an asshole.
Editing this post for people who may find it but not read further. This user makes claims about waste getting into water, and other claims. When asked for any evidence they cannot provide any. I would recommend extreme skepticism of anything they say.
That's not "slightly different language", that's the difference between a few decades and thousands of years until radioactive hazards subside. And it was a bad faith argument. Anti-intellectualism isn't acceptable when it is lethal.
It depends on your definition of hazard. It'll be radioactive almost until the end of time. It'll be half as radioactive after the half life. It's already pretty damn safe as is, where being near it for a moderate amount of time isn't an issue.
You really don't know what you are talking about, do you?
I do. You don't. You can make out with these containers if you want with no protection. You'll be perfectly fine. IIRC it's similar to being in an airplane (lower I think). I assume you aren't that worried about the radiation then, right?
Edit: here's a good video. https://youtube.com/watch?v=lhHHbgIy9jU&t=2s&pp=2AECkAIB
The point is not the containers freshly produced. It's the containers in decades or even hundreds of years from now. Or when they are exposed to conditions they can't withstand.
They're built to literally withstand bombs being dropped on them. What situation are you envisioning where it'll be an issue? Either society is fine and we can handle them being damaged or it isn't, in which case these are the least of our worries. The waste is melted down and mixed with glass. It can't move around the environment. There will just be a place with higher radiation, which again will be the least of people's concerns if society has collapsed.
Maybe try giving that advice to those people currently worrying about radioactive leakage in our oceans, or in current "temporary" deposits.
Corrosion over the long term is way more problematic than sudden violent shocks. Also, most currently existing radioactive waste is already leaking into the environment.
Where are people worrying about radioactive waste leaking into water? Fukushima? That's a totally different beast. It isn't because of stored waste. Nowhere in the US is there any legitimate concern. There may be fear mongering though.
Very true. That's why it's encased in concrete, and the atmosphere was replaced with helium (or hydrogen, I don't remember), which will not react with metal. No corrosion can happen unless the concrete cracks, in which case it'll fail inspection and be repaired/replaced. There's a reason bridges can use steal encased in concrete even over salt water usually without issue, unless the concrete cracks.
Citation needed. No it fucking isn't. Provide evidence for such a bold claim.
The world is more than the banana republic of the divided states of southern northern america. I won't waste my time with you anymore.
This post is about a power plant in Maine, a state in the union.
Anyway, you provided no evidence to back up your claim. Present some or everyone will assume you don't have any. Before you do, again, Fukushima is a nuclear disaster. It isn't an issue with stored waste, rather the reactor melting down, so does not relate to the discussion here. Where is there stored waste that's entering the water?
You're just here to deny and reject. Ive tried to educate, and you have rejected it. Best of luck friend.
Welcome to the world of mining. Metal leaching/acid rock drainage (ML/ARD) is a big issue associated with waste rock, and the solution is often an engineered cover that limits oxygen and water ingress (as these react with sulphur, lowering pH and releasing bound metals in the form of leachate). These covers often use geomembranes that have lifespans of 25 years... Yet you have 300 million tons of ML/ARD waste rock entombed by them.
Look up the Giant Mine - that one will make your head spin.