Nuclear Waste

[johnny_t]

I keep saying this down the pub, when I've been drinking, and no-one knows the answer but:

Why can't we fire Nuclear Waste at the sun and let it burn up there ?

Surely this would pose no radiation risk. I guess there is a risk of the rocket blowing up on the launchpad, but couldn't they use some sort of electromagnetic launcher instead to fire it out there ?

I guess there is a reason otherwise someone would have come up with it already, but does anyone know what it is ??

 

[joe-90]

You've already answered it. Rockets blow up. That would spread nuclear waste in a huge area. It would have to have been thought up in the pub.


joe

 

[johnny_t]

Yeah, but....

That's why I came up with the electromagnetic launcher, to avoid the blowing up problem. Like a cross between a great big gun and a MAG-LEV train.

 

[joe-90]

It just isn't possible to attain the escape velocity from earth (24,000mph) when you have air resistance against it. I don't really see what mag-lev technology has to do with it.


joe

 

[johnny_t]

But why not ? Is there a reason why you can't achieve the same ammount of thrust through electro-magnetics as you can through rocket thrusters ? Or would it require a nuclear power station all of its own to generate the required power ??

 

[WoodYouLike]

Funny enough, there are plans to create just such a launcher (could just be wishful thinking, but I did read about it a few months ago)
Will try to find the article again.

 

[joe-90]

But why not ? Is there a reason why you can't achieve the same ammount of thrust through electro-magnetics as you can through rocket thrusters ? Or would it require a nuclear power station all of its own to generate the required power ??

You'd need a track right out of the atmosphere for the mag-lev to run on. That isn't possible.

As far as using it as a type of gun it just wouldn't work. Just as a boat slows down in water, then a missile slows down in air (not to mention the pull of gravity). The escape velocity required to propel an object theough air at ground level would cause it to vapourise instantly. A rocket reaches it's eventual velocity when it is low on fuel and the air is extremely thin. Only then will it reach the 24,000 mph needed to escape the pull of the earth.
It's not rocket science!


joe

 

[johnny_t]

A big gun could still have booster magnets along its length, so the missile is accelerating all the way up, but as an alternative, how about.....

Small nuclear payloads, flown up to somewhere near the edge of space in a plane, and then fired out using my magnet gun. Small enough so that any crash of the launch vehicle is not too catastrophic a problem, given that it will all be done over an uninhabited area. You could even send them up to the edge of space by balloon if you wanted.

Might try to build something for the purpose in my shed this weekend.

 

[empip]

Beam it up .. Scotty

 

[WoodYouLike]

Found it: space elevator
or here
and space towers

 

[johnny_t]

That should do the trick.....

Then steer it towards the sun.

So now we've solved nuclear waste, what shall we solve next ??

 

[WoodYouLike]

Common cold?

 

[johnny_t]

Fire it into space and steer it towards the sun

In fact, we may have found the solution to just about everything here...

 

[Steve]

Fire it into space and steer it towards the sun

In fact, we may have found the solution to just about everything here...

mindless vandals?

 

[Big_Spark]

It just isn't possible to attain the escape velocity from earth (24,000mph) when you have air resistance against it. I don't really see what mag-lev technology has to do with it.


joe

Joe, that is incorrect. A Mag-Lev launcher could easily achieve escape velocity even on Earth. The maximum speed of these things is limited by our ability to manufacture a material that could stand the massive forces involved when coupled to the frictional heating induced by the launch.

At present Mag-Lev trains travel under the speed of sound, however the technology exists for hypersonic mag-lev trains, it is simply the cost and political will that is the problem.