Why cant we get rid of nuclear waste by loading it into rockets, fire them towards the sun and incinerate it?

Question

Why cant we get rid of nuclear waste by loading it into rockets, fire them towards the sun and incinerate it?

Answer 1

because a majority of it would end up floating around in the atmosphere.

Answer 2

We can ,and we could. The only problem is that it would cost huge amounts of money and no one would be willing to fund such missions as they have zero scientific or financial return.The risks of an accident within our atmosphere are also too great.Perhaps we should stop relying on nuclear power or producing nuclear weapons.

Answer 3

it would cost millions of tax payer £ / $ to actually do that. far far cheaper to burry it and mutate a load of fish, or give a lot of people and animals cancer.

plus it would take a huge rocket, and fule to get it out of the orbital forces of earth and the planets it would pass. ther would be no garuntee that the rocket would reach the sun undamaged, or get out of the atmosphere undamaged. should one be damaged and explode, spreading nuclear waste over tens or hundreds of miles or leave it filtering in the clouds and air would be devestating.

Answer 4

Uh, I guess the government would think it would be a waste of money and time, to ask NASA or any of their rocket facilities to launch earth junk into space, just so their rocket can get incinerated. You wouldn't be too happy anyway if you were the engineer designing space shuttles for the only purpose of blowing up.

Answer 5

superman is'nt real

Answer 6

wouldnt it like burn up before it hits the sun..then space would be a junk yard...?

Answer 7

i agree with andyg77-if something went wrong and it exploded in our atmosphere, there could be a big problem. Especially if that dangerous stuff falls back to earth somehow.  But also, if you think about it apollo makes their crafts with material that gets red hot, but isn't hot to the touch, so if they could make a craft super reinforced and made for that purpose and one that could be funded, who's to say it won't become a reality???

Answer 8

There is, simply put, too much of the stuff.

We, for example, import it for processing by the shipload.

Answer 9

Too many rocket launches would be required to get rid of it all. It wouldn't be a practical method of disposal.

Answer 10

We prob could but i guess it would come down to the cost of doing this, i guess it would cost a small fortune :)

Answer 11

Why don't we just recycle it instead?  

Answer 12

Damage limitation.

Nuclear waste material including other materials made radioactive during the creation of energy by means of contamination weigh too much. That is one of the reasons why it is transported by rail. To put that much material into orbit would cost far too much and would create even more pollution from the chemical rockets needed. Also to then change it from being in an earth orbit to plunging into the sun would require yet even more energy.

Also would you really fancy putting highly toxic waste on top of a gigantic bomb with a fuse at one end. Each and every astronaut knows of the Challengers fate. Most nations that have launched rockets have also faced complete disasters on the launch pad.

If you want to dispose of it safely, there are easier, cheaper and more reliable methods available.

Answer 13

We would ruin our planet even more by launching so many rockets. There's just too much of that stuff, and it's very very heavy.

Answer 14

if it blew up before it left our atmosphere  about 50 square miles of earth would be dead or extremely deformed

but it is a good idea

Answer 15

1. It would take too much rocket fuel.

2. What if there is an accident and it blows up in our atmosphere?  (Like the two space shuttles we lost.)