The video discusses the idea of shooting nuclear waste into space as a solution to the problem of nuclear waste disposal. The speaker explains that nuclear waste is categorized into low-level, intermediate-level, and high-level waste. The high-level waste is the most problematic, being very concentrated and radioactive, and is difficult to handle. The speaker also mentions that the cost of launching nuclear waste into space is extremely high, and that the technology to launch such waste into space is not currently feasible. The speaker argues that shooting nuclear waste into space is a bad idea due to the high cost, the potential for failures during launch, and the risk of the waste returning to Earth and contaminating the environment. The speaker concludes by stating that while nuclear energy has its flaws, the fear and misconceptions surrounding nuclear waste reveal a lack of understanding of risk. The speaker suggests that there are better ways to handle nuclear waste, such as burying it deep underground or reprocessing some of it into new fuel.
1. The text discusses the idea of shooting nuclear waste into space, which is considered a bad and horribly bad idea.
2. Nuclear waste is categorized into three broad levels: low-level waste, intermediate-level waste, and high-level waste.
3. High-level nuclear waste is very concentrated spent fuel taken out of a reactor core, made of various dangerous and highly radioactive elements.
4. Active nuclear reactors create about 11,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste each year.
5. Since 1954, we've accumulated 400,000 tons of dangerous radioactive waste.
6. Launching nuclear waste into space would be extremely expensive, costing at least $100 million per year to deal with all the 440 operational nuclear power plants.
7. Launching high-level nuclear waste would cost some 44 billion dollars per year for space launch before packaging, transport, and security costs are added.
8. There aren't enough rockets to shoot all the nuclear waste into space even if we wanted to.
9. Shooting nuclear waste into any random direction in space is also a bad idea due to the tendency of orbits to come back to where they started.
10. Shooting nuclear waste into the sun is also a bad idea due to the difficulty of hitting the sun and the strong gravity it has.
11. Rocket engineering has taken huge steps since the Apollo era, making them relatively safe. However, out of the 146 launches in 2021, there were 11 failures.
12. A sizable number of rockets carrying high-level radioactive waste would be exploding on the launch pad or in the worst-case scenario, disassembling at high altitude or crashing from hypersonic speeds.
13. The fear of nuclear waste and horrible ideas like shooting it into space reveals how bad we are at understanding risk.
14. The largest amounts of radioactive elements like uranium and radon are actually released by coal burning.
15. Nuclear power plants are a harder cell than coal nuclear waste and the lack of willingness to deal with it are a real issue.
16. Shooting nuclear waste into space is one of the worst ideas ever.