Question by VINNAALMA: What ever happened to the idea of using nuclear power as a domestic power source?
It works on nuclear subs and the like, why isn’t this being used to power cities and towns? I know it employs a dangerous risk, but truth be told one is more likely to die in a car crash to or from work than from a nuclear meltdown. Is it just not as cost effective as people once thought? Did the current green movement halt this idea? What happened?
Best answer:
Answer by doug_donaghue
Yeah, everybdy started worrying about how to store the (extremely hot) byproducts of fission reactors in such a way that they couldn’t possibly get back into the environment for several half-lives so they’d be ‘cool’ enough not to be dangerous.
Unfortunately…… We don’t know enough about engineering to build leakproof vaults capable of lasting (guaranteed) for several milion years.
Where to store the expended fuel we currently have usually turns into a huge NIMBY (‘Not In My Back Yard) brawl between the States. And transporting it is an even more massive circus than moving a nuclear warhead.
Doug
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