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Nuclear Waste Management: Celestial Solutions

Nuclear Waste Management: Celestial Solutions. David Froot. Unaddressed Solution:. Many solutions to the nuclear waste issue: dilution and disperse, concentrate and confine, etc. What about disposal of nuclear waste in space? Is this a feasible solution economically and physically?.

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Nuclear Waste Management: Celestial Solutions

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  1. Nuclear Waste Management:Celestial Solutions David Froot

  2. Unaddressed Solution: Many solutions to the nuclear waste issue: dilution and disperse, concentrate and confine, etc. What about disposal of nuclear waste in space? Is this a feasible solution economically and physically?

  3. Economic Feasibility Currently nuclear costs between 11.1 – 14.5 cents per kilowatt-hour. One ton of Uranium produces 40 million kilowatt hours of energy. New price of nuclear power per kilowatt hour is equal to original price plus cost of launching mass of uranium required to produce 1 kilowatt hour of energy into space. How much is this?

  4. Price per kWh Approximately $10,000 to launch 1 pound of mass into space. 2,000 lb / 40,000,000 kWh = .00005 lb/kWh .00005 lb x 10,000 $/lb = .5 cents per kWh Only pushes price up from 11.1 – 14.5 cents to 11.6 – 15.0 cents per kWh: Economically feasible!

  5. But what about the physics… If the energy consumed by launching the nuclear waste into space exceeds the energy produced by that same mass, then the system does not result in a net energy gain, and is not a valid solution to the problem. 1 kg Uranium produces 3.26 x 10 ^10 Joules of Energy. But how much energy does it take to put something into space?

  6. Which on earth is approximately 11,200 m/s In theory, we need to achieve escape velocity for each kg of nuclear waste The energy in 1 kg of nuclear waste at this speed is only 6.27 X 107 J, which is only .192% of the energy produced by same mass of equivalent uranium. This is a gross under estimate because it completely neglects air resistance, fuel needs, etc. But this shows the theoretical minimum. A more realistic solution…

  7. Look at the space shuttle for an idea… 1st Stage Rockets: 1,000,000 kg of 31.0MJ/kg from Solid Rocket Boosters 2nd Stage Rockets: 100,000 kg of 143 MJ/kg Liquid Hydrogen with liquid Oxygen as oxidizer Total Energy consumed by fuel = 4.53 x 10 ^ 13 J If the entire space shuttle were replaced by a nuclear waste container, it could launch 110,000 kg into space. Therefore at maximum efficiency, each kg would use approximately: 4.12 x 108 Joules Which is equivalent to only 1.2% of energy produced by the same mass of nuclear waste. Physically Feasible!

  8. So why is no one considering this? Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Facility holds approximately 2.25 x 109 kg at a cost of 8$ billion (so far), which means $3.55 per kg of waste (minimum) Compare to $22,000 per kg ($10,000 per lb) of nuclear waste launched into space.

  9. Sensitivity Study How efficiently must we be able to launch waste into space to make it a viable option? Each launch must cost only $390,500 Far, far too cheap.

  10. Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_force http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_shuttle http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Cents_Per_Kilowatt-Hourhttp:// www.futron.com/pdf/resource_center/white_papers/FutronLaunchCostWP.pdf

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