Where will the UK bury nuclear waste for 100,000 years?
www.bbc.com
The UK's nuclear waste needs a permanent home - but finding a community willing to take it is tricky.

One of UK’s oldest nuclear waste storage silos is currently leaking radioactive liquid into the ground. That is a “recurrence of a historic leak” that Sellafield Ltd, the company that operates the site, says first started in the 1970s.

Sellafield has also faced questions about its working culture and adherence to safety rules. The company is currently awaiting sentencing after it pleaded guilty, in June, to charges related to cyber-security failings.

  • Successful_Try543@feddit.orgEnglish
    73·
    2 months ago

    Nah, in primary school, we got some nice rubbers from nuclear lobby with a black plastic coin attached to them. The text said: “this is the amount of nuclear waste a family household produces in a year”. This should show us, how “few” waste is produced. That this waste is highly radioactive and toxic was concealed disclosed subsequently.

    • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
      9·
      2 months ago

      Or what the lifetime of said waste is, and how much of it accumulates due to there just being a huge fucking amount of households.

      • Successful_Try543@feddit.orgEnglish
        1·
        2 months ago

        Yes. TBF, from burning coal, oil or natural gas, which were the alternatives considered in these days (yes, I’m old) there are also ashes and other remainders which are ‘more’ in terms of mass and volume, some also toxic, but not that radiant. Thus, we already have places to store and deposit them which are considered safe enough. For the nuclear waste this does not hold, some countries now have quite elaborated plans for permanent storage facilities. But in Germany, everything is still under discussion and subject of research and thus, a permanent storage facility for highly radioactive waste will not be ready in less than 50 years, and probably not even in 100 years.

        • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
          3·
          2 months ago

          Because nuclear storage sites need to be safe and understood for thousands of years to come, even if civilization falls.

          • Successful_Try543@feddit.orgEnglish
            32·
            2 months ago

            Exactly, yes. That’s why it’s such an idiotic idea to even build new nuclear power plants. (I just corrected my wording I’m my 1st reply.) In the past, German politics has made enormous mistakes in the choice of Gorleben as long term storage facility before even checking if it was suitable. Additionally, the pro nuclear Bavarian government doesn’t want to have the waste in Bavaria, although there are possibly suitable types of rock located.