– Why can’t we use radioactive waste energy to produce something harmless like hydrogen?
In: 2
Radioactive waste in itself is a dangerous material which gives off a little energy in the form of harmful radiation for a long time, e.g. decades and centuries. Converting this energy to anything is not worth it because there is not a lot of it, i.e. there is a lot of harmfulness, but little energy.
Splitting atoms is incredibly difficult, that’s why nuclear fuel is specific isotopes that are highly reactive. It’s like asking why you can’t burn ashes. All the work we can reasonably do to it has been done
By the time nuclear fuel becomes nuclear waste it’s too weak to do anything useful but also too strong to be released into the world. Sorting the strong and useful isotopes from the weak and useless ones is dangerous, expensive, and time consuming.
Latest Answers