So if they closed all the nuclear plants today, where would they

[The Backlash Cometh]

store all the unused radiated rods?

[TexasProgresive]

1. Same place they do now

in swimming pools. There is no place safe to put those things.

[buddysmellgood]

2. Dry cask storage is safer than the pools. Of course, it adds expense, but what are you gonna do?

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

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[guyton]

4. dump 'em into the sun

I've always been in favor of nuclear energy -- as soon as we have the means to dump the waste into the sun.

You'd need re-entry safe pods (in case of launch failures), and a really reliable way of tossing the pods out of the earth's gravity well. The good news is that we could subject them to enormous g-forces during launch (no astronauts or delicate electronics to squish), so some sort of very large magnetic rail-gun could be the answer. No moving parts (other than the pod getting tossed) to wear out or malfunction.

But storing this waste on *this* planet? No thanks.

Oh wait, you mean we already have rods we don't know what to do with? I think storing them in the jail cells of the politicians that approved all this would be appropriate.

[enough]

5. This is a huge problem, and every day the reactors continue to operate, the problem gets worse. (nt)

[crickets]

7. ^This.

The problem won't go away by closing the plants, but at least we can stop adding to it while trying to figure out how to deal with it.

[NNN0LHI]

6. In pools full of constantly circulating ionized water for at least 30 years until they cool down

That is how long it takes to cool them down enough to be removed. I didn't know about that a month ago.

Don