Isn’t nuclear waste hot and releasing neutrons or electrons or whatever? Why can’t we just throw nuclear waste in a chamber surrounded by water to heat it up and generate power?

Question

Isn’t nuclear waste hot and releasing neutrons or electrons or whatever? Why can’t we just throw nuclear waste in a chamber surrounded by water to heat it up and generate power?

In: Engineering

Answer 1

We do throw nuclear waste in a pool of water, but the last thing you want is for it to boil. The steam would carry radioactive matter with it. Remember the Fukushima disaster in Japan. Yeah, the pools themselves became a potential problem. If you can’t maintain cooling of the pools, you’ve got yourself a big problem.