Curious , why not send spent nuclear rods to the sun ?
- Thread starter river
- Start date
Because the rockets might blowup on the launch pad or before the leave Earth's gravitational field. They might inadvertently create the worlds largest dirty bomb.
Oh I'm sure with technology we have today that we could think in terms of the worst case scenario and go from there and avoid the blowup
You may be sure, but I don't think others share your confidence. It only takes one failure to create a nightmare mess. And man has yet to create a fail proof anything. It's that old Murphy's Law thing. The Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable too.
http://www.space.com/21806-russian-rocket-explodes-failed-launch.html
All you have to do is send the rods in increments at first
Or specifically design a rocket that sends nuclear rods to the sun
And thats all this rocket does
Really? Remember that *nothing* is 100% certain.
Of course
But to think that we could not engineer a container , that held the rods , that could not handle an explosion of the rocket its self , is false
It would take thousands of them for what is currently stored - and that container is *still* part of the 100%. How about we launch all of them from your backyard?
But it is possible
Challenge engineers to come up with a safe and safer way to do this
All it takes is the will to engineer the rocket that can do it
But the Sun would burn up the nuclear spent rods and would do so before it even got beyond the corona
Janus58
Valued Senior Member
Unless the rod material actually impacts the surface of the Sun so that it is permanently captured by the Sun, it will just swing around the Sun and head back out again. Heat does nothing to the radioactivity of an isotope. You'd still have a radioactive mass in a trajectory that returns it to Earth orbit.
No matter how you cut it, it is not a feasible or practical method of disposal. As I already mentioned, kicking out of the Solar system entirely would be much cheaper. In fact, it would take ~1/6 as much energy to launch it out of the Solar system.
No matter how you cut it, it is not a feasible or practical method of disposal. As I already mentioned, kicking out of the Solar system entirely would be much cheaper. In fact, it would take ~1/6 as much energy to launch it out of the Solar system.
Disagree
The corona of the sun is between 2 million and 5 million degrees F
Much , much , much more energy needed to vaporize the nuclear material
The trajectory of the rocket would be on the side of the sun that is opposite to the Earth , naturally
Then do it
Both ideas - into the sun and just into space have been around for about 50 years. Each time it's come up it's been shot down. Why not talk to the people who nixed it each time?
I can tell you, though, why they did. It was because of the one chance (actually MUCH higher than that) that something would go wrong. It's a dead issue. (shrug)
Although not technically bombs themselves, The Limited Test Ban Treaty would probably prohibit this action, as they could be used as weapons if flew into another country. and do you have ANY idea how much sweet talk and ass licking the americans would have to do to get this treaty ammended? lol
Things can go wrong
But as Chris Hadfield explained in his book ( An Astronaut's Guide to life On Earth ) , chapter 3 , the power of negative thinking
" like most astronauts, I'm pretty sure that I can deal with what life throws at me because I've thought about what to do if things go wrong, as well as right . That's the power of negative thinking. "
And thats the attitude we need to take here
What is the worst case scenario and work backwards from there , engineering wise
Why not have a big rubbish dump on the moon?
Stick it all down a large crater.
After a few million years it would be good metal again and we could go and get it back.
Why waste it?
Stick it all down a large crater.
After a few million years it would be good metal again and we could go and get it back.
Why waste it?
I think the USA is far too heavily invested in sending up more satellites to ensure you all have a decent mobile phone reception.
That is, of course, far more important than spending billions of dollars to shoot off a rocket to take out the trash.
That is, of course, far more important than spending billions of dollars to shoot off a rocket to take out the trash.
Moon dump now!
