With various nations proposing various solutions to store radioactive waste, I was wondering if launching it into the depth of space could be a solution.
Source: Bill_Door_8
With various nations proposing various solutions to store radioactive waste, I was wondering if launching it into the depth of space could be a solution.
Source: Bill_Door_8
8 Comments
you would also need to expend lots of energy to get it out of Earth’s orbit and then either reach the Sun’s escape velocity or put it into an orbit that’s never going to come back to earth.
Flinging it in the air isn’t any better than attaching it to rockets and launching them. Maybe less expensive than full on rockets, but still expensive and doesn’t solve the issue. Spin launch would also lack the ability to get large quantities of waste out of low earth orbit. Better to spend money learning how to better process the waste as we are already doing.
https://www.hanfordvitplant.com/vitrification-101
It would be if a mid-atmosphere “rapid unscheduled dis-assembly” was not a possibility.
I doubt it considering that sooner or later it would come back … at undetermined location and possibly break up on reentry. A rain of radioactive meteorites sounds like a bad idea.
Ah just as I thought, the answer lies in this movie I found on the Internet
https://youtu.be/ooB5iIqZnB0?si=Y7aHJcgyvkVQNco3
I’ll add another to the list of reasons this is a terrible idea is that you don’t have enough control over where it goes in earth’s orbit. We already have a space junk problem and the waste pods unless they had thrusters and controls could over time hit satellites or other objects in orbit. There is ultimately a risk that a cascade of collisions could one day effectively create a dangerous cloud of orbiting debris that could make all satellites impractical.
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/what-is-space-junk-and-why-is-it-a-problem.html
Spin launch can’t impart escape velocity nor can it put anything in orbit so whatever radioactive junk you launch with it will hit earth a few hours later without a rocket engine. A boost is required about 20 minutes after launch for orbital insertion or to escape earth gravity. The radioactivity is likely to ignite all of the rocket fuel, so it’s coming back down if you send it up.
I’m not sure you fully grasp orbital mechanics or gravitational wells.
Anything flung out from Earth no matter with how much energy is going to have its perigee on the Earth’s surface and will renter the atmosphere after a single orbit.
It would need to at least have an apogee motor to raise its orbit. You might also be underestimating the kinetic energy need to get out of Earth’s gravity well. Reaching the velocitys required within the atmosphere might cause some friction issues.