Totally off-topic but involves the word 'power'
*non science-geeks please skip over this post*

I heard on the radio yesterday that there are plans to build a deep storage facility for nuclear waste - as its radioactive and will continue to be so for many years. I am interested in physics and i studied at A-level but i dont really have the intellect for it to be honest.
However i know alot of B3tans do, and i was wondering if anybody can clear this up for me...

(stolen from wikipedia)

An example is the natural decay chain of 238U which is as follows:

decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 4.5 billion years to thorium-234
which decays, through beta-emission, with a half-life of 24 days to protactinium-234
which decays, through beta-emission, with a half-life of 1.2 minutes to uranium-234
which decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 240 thousand years to thorium-230
which decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 77 thousand years to radium-226
which decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 1.6 thousand years to radon-222
which decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 3.8 days to polonium-218
which decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 3.1 minutes to lead-214
which decays, through beta-emission, with a half-life of 27 minutes to bismuth-214
which decays, through beta-emission, with a half-life of 20 minutes to polonium-214
which decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 160 microseconds to lead-210
which decays, through beta-emission, with a half-life of 22 years to bismuth-210
which decays, through beta-emission, with a half-life of 5 days to polonium-210
which decays, through alpha-emission, with a half-life of 140 days to lead-206, which is a stable nuclide.

So why not use a material with a much lower half-life? surely nuclear fission is still possible?
(Frample Tromwibbler climbs an obstacle like old people fuck, Thu 8 Jul 2010, 19:06, 10 replies)

Probably because uranium is the most abundant radioactive element.

( The Mock TurtIe ™ --- Thinks you are a cunt, on, Thu 8 Jul 2010, 19:08, closed)

Uranium 235
is what is used in nuclear reactors, Uranium 238 isn't fissile and won't undergo a self-sustaining fissile chain reaction.
I think you're confusing fissile with fusionable which an ability to undergo a nuclear reaction but not a self-sustaining one.
It's possible to use Thorium 232 to make Uranium 233 which is Fissile.
( social hand grenade I was a lurker before you were a lurker, Thu 8 Jul 2010, 21:27, closed)

What a great list
I've not seen that before.

For some reason Polonium makes me think of Kenneth Williams?
( Ring Of Fire A petty, drooling belming butthurt retard., Thu 8 Jul 2010, 21:31, closed)

It makes me think of polony slicing sausage.

(Vlad the Inhaler forgot his password, Wed 14 Jul 2010, 19:53, closed)

Ha ha
You'd be well pissed off if you went for a crafty wank and missed the thorium.
(Vice Admiral Sir Charles Cockbrush KCB MBE DSO, who is finding it increasingly difficult to log into b3ta.com wants to duck your aunt and kick your puppy, Thu 8 Jul 2010, 21:35, closed)

But what if I'd hit...
...the Thora Hirdium?
(IHaveComeAmongThee__Twice Tissues on the left. Self-esteem on the right., Thu 8 Jul 2010, 22:22, closed)

Materials with a lower half-life are just as useful for fusion,
but they're no good for giving people super powers.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Fri 9 Jul 2010, 5:58, closed)

It is intended to use deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, for commercial fusion when the time comes.
That and lithium. The only byproduct will be helium, of which one isotope that is expected to be produced in small quantities is slightly radioactive (half-life 12 years) and mildly poisonous in large quantities, but doesn't bio-accumulate the way things like mercury do.

Deuterium occurs in sea water at about 1 part per 6500, which doesn't sound like much but it means there is estimated to be enough in earth's oceans to meet our current energy consumption needs for the next 128 billion years. Yes, I said billion, not million.

That's why the EU spends 800 million euros a year on research into nuclear fusion, and rightly so.
(Vlad the Inhaler forgot his password, Wed 14 Jul 2010, 19:57, closed)

Uranium-235
Is used not because it gives off energy when it splits (yes, there are other materials that will do that) but because when it does split - a process begun by the U₂₃₅ molecule interacting with a particle called a slow neutron - it will release three more slow neutrons. This means that the reaction is self-sustaining and will keep running without the need for a constant external source of slow neutrons.
( MatJ LOOK, Fri 9 Jul 2010, 9:39, closed)

Not long to go now until nuclear fusion makes the whole question academic.
Any day now. Forty years, tops.

Of course, nuclear fusion has been "forty years away" for the last 60 years.
(Vlad the Inhaler forgot his password, Wed 14 Jul 2010, 19:53, closed)