LLAW’s All Things Nuclear #643, Monday, (05/27/2024)

“End Nuclear Insanity Before Nuclear Insanity Ends Humanity”

LLOYD A. WILLIAMS-PENDERGRAFT

MAY 28, 2024

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Breakthrough Swiss tech cuts 80% of radioactive waste in nuclear plants

The Transmutex reactor (Franklin Servan-Schreiber/Transmutex)

LLAW’s NUCLEAR ISSUES & COMMENTS, Monday, (05/27/2024)

The following article is about pure alchemy (turning metal into gold) and is probably about as likely to solve the rapidly increasing nuclear threat of nuclear war, nuclear meltdowns, and nuclear fuel waste. Also 500 years to reduce lethal radioactivity is a long, long, time in mankind’s world(s).

How is it that we cannot seem to understand that the only way to solve our already seriously life-threatening nuclear world is to permanently get rid of it and never use any of it for any reason again. Doing so would take a long time as well, but the years would be finite (perhaps no more than the time to build 25 years worth of new nuclear power plants), but if this broken world of humanity banded together and concentrated on accomplishing just this one mandatory job, it could be done. (Which is possible. . .)

Of course I have my doubts that humanity could ever unite in an internationally cooperative way to ever make a workable engineering blueprint (which is possible); a workable timeline and occupational accomplishment schedule for a permanently designed long term destruction schedule that would require an unbridled world-wide co-op effort (which is possible); and accumulate the required financial capital to make it happen (which is also possible). But we won’t do the possible. The doomsday darkness of nuclear world war or a sky of world-wide nuclear radiation poisoning, or both, will come. Then is the time when hindsight will tell us that we will wish we had, but it will be too late if it is not already so. ~llaw

Breakthrough Swiss tech cuts 80% of radioactive waste in nuclear plants

Radioactivity of nuclear waste could be reduced from thousands of years to less than 500 years.

Updated: May 27, 2024 07:46 AM EST

Ameya Paleja

Ameya Paleja

Aformer CERN scientist working at the private nuclear fission company Transmutex has developed a new approach that could radically cut down the radioactivity of nuclear waste by as much as 80 percent.

Based in Switzerland, Transmutex’s technology was reviewed over several months by Nagra, the Swiss national body that manages nuclear waste, which also arrived at this estimate. 

While the operational safety of nuclear fission reactors has often been the focus of attention, the safety of the spent fuel requires more attention. Nuclear fission fuel remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, long after the energy extracted from it is used up. 

As countries look for ways to move away from fossil fuels, nuclear fission technology is poised for a comeback. At COP28 last year, 20 nations decided to triple their nuclear energy capacity in the next 25 years but plans for long-term storage of spent fuel have yet to be drawn up. 

Interesting Engineering has previously reported Finland’s plans to store nuclear fuel one thousand feet below sea level for over 100,000 years.

However, with countries ramping up nuclear energy production, more such facilities are required unless technological breakthroughs such as Transmutex’s are adopted. 

What is Transmutex’s technology? 

As its name suggests, Transmutex relies on the transmutation of elements—the conversion of an element into its isotope or another element altogether. Technically speaking, this is the same principle that alchemists attempted to apply in the past to turn metals into gold. 

Where the alchemists failed, former scientists from CERN have been able to succeed. Using a particle accelerator, the researchers propose using a slightly radioactive element such as thorium and transmuting it into an isotope of uranium. 

The accelerator is connected to a nuclear fission plant, where the newly generated uranium can be processed immediately. However, unlike its uranium counterpart, which is used in nuclear power plants today, this uranium does not produce plutonium or other highly radioactive waste. 

The technology is the brainchild of Carlo Rubbia, the former director-general of the physics laboratory at CERN. 

Hurdles in the path

While Rubbia might have had access to a particle accelerator at his old workplace, nuclear energy plants do not have the same luxuries. Building a particle accelerator near each plant can be quite expensive, considering that CERN spent nearly US$5 billion to deliver the Large Hadron Collider. 

The other challenge is the opposition to nuclear technology itself. Interesting Engineering has previously reported how Germany phased off its nuclear power plants. Switzerland, too, has similar plans for its four existing nuclear power production facilities. 

If the government is convinced, Transmutex’s technology could be a lifesaver for these plants. Transmutex has raised private funding for its technology, but Nagra’s assessment is also a major boost. 

According to the Swiss national body, Transmutex’s technology could help reduce the volume of nuclear waste generated by 80 percent and reduce the time it remains radioactive to less than 500 years. More importantly, the technology could also be applied to 99 percent of existing nuclear waste. 

With regard to operational safety, a Transmutex-powered nuclear facility could also be shut down in two milliseconds, an unprecedented measure in fission tech, a company statement added. 


ABOUT THE FOLLOWING ACCESS TO “LLAW’S ALL THINGS NUCLEAR” RELATED MEDIA:

There are 6 categories, including a bonus non-nuclear category for news about the Yellowstone caldera and other volcanic and caldera activity around the world that play an important role in humanity’s lives, as do ‘all things nuclear’ for you to pick from, usually with up to 3 links in each category about the most important media stories in each category, but sometimes fewer and occasionally even none (especially so with the Yellowstone Caldera). The Categories are listed below in their usual order:

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Whenever there is an underlined link to a Category media news story, if you press or click on the link provided, you no longer have to cut and paste to your web browser, since this Post’s link will take you directly to the article in your browser.

A current Digest of major nuclear media headlines with automated links is listed below by nuclear Category (in the above listed order). If a Category heading does not appear in the daily news Digest, it means there was no news reported from this Category today. Generally, the three best articles in each Category from around the nuclear world(s) are Posted. Occasionally, if a Post is important enough, it may be listed in multiple Categories.

TODAY’S NUCLEAR WORLD’S NEWS, Monday, (05/27/2024)

All Things Nuclear

NEWS

Polish official claims the US told Russia it would strike Russian targets in Ukraine if Putin …

Yahoo News Singapore

Putin has regularly issued nuclear threats since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. … all your targets [positions] in Ukraine with …

Opinion: Loose talk about the end of everything | Chattanooga Times Free Press

Chattanooga Times Free Press

Iran’s theocrats simultaneously claim they are about ready to produce nuclear weapons. And, of course, since 1979, Iran has periodically promised …

Adm. Rickover’s Nukes Warning: ‘We’ll probably Destroy Ourselves’ – FlaglerLive

FlaglerLive

Every form of energy, including nuclear power, creates its own adverse consequences. … things through and I understand what humanity is all about and …

Nuclear Power

NEWS

Russia to build Central Asia’s first nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan – Reuters

Reuters

Russia will build a small nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan, the first such project in post-Soviet Central Asia, Uzbek President Shavkat …

Russia to build a small nuclear power plant in Uzbekistan – ABC News

ABC News – The Walt Disney Company

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Uzbekistan leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev have held talks and signed a number of agreements aimed at deepening …

Breakthrough Swiss tech cuts 80% of radioactive waste in nuclear plants

Interesting Engineering

Nuclear fission fuel remains radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years, long after the energy extracted from it is used up. As countries look for …

Nuclear Power Emergencies

NEWS

Electricity restrictions in Ukraine have been in effect since 6 a.m., NPP unit is back in operation

unn.ua

УНН Society ✎ Ukraine imposed power supply restrictions from 6 a.m. to midnight, reconnected a nuclear unit to the grid after repairs, …

Belarus sends humanitarian aid to Russia’s Orenburg Oblast, Kurgan Oblast – BELTA

BELTA

… Emergencies Ministry. The humanitarian cargo … Emergencies Minister Aleksandr Khudoleyev informed. … Rosatom ready to build second nuclear power plant …

Nuclear War

NEW

Putin Ally Insists ‘Nuclear War Is Inevitable’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

Russian media personality Vladimir Solovyov promoted nuclear war on a recent episode of his show.

Sweden, NATO and the irresponsible calls for more nuclear sharing in Europe – ICAN

International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons

Swedish PM won’t rule out hosting nuclear weapons in war time despite pressure. On May 13th, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson suggested in an …

Royal Navy’s Most Advanced Nuclear Attack Sub Nears Active Service – The Defense Post

The Defense Post

The Royal Navy’s fifth Astute-class submarine is near deployment duties after completing trials off the US East Coast.

Nuclear War Threats

NEW

Putin Ally Insists ‘Nuclear War Is Inevitable’ – Newsweek

Newsweek

Putin said in March that, while Moscow is prepared for nuclear war, it is not his intention to use the weapons unless there is a threat to the …

Israeli nuclear threats to push others to change doctrine: Iran offic. | Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen English

Israeli nuclear threats to push others to change doctrine: Iran offic. … Read more: The Looming Threat of Nuclear War · Israeli aggression · Israel …

Russia’s Radioactive Submarines Remain a Toxic Arctic Threat – The Moscow Times

The Moscow Times

… nuclear submarines that were … The West’s Reliance on Russian Nuclear Fuel Funds Moscow’s War … Other threats lurk beneath the ocean. Moscow’s …

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