this question doesn't come from myself, I find it in fact stupid and think it is highest dangerous to shoot radioactive waste to the Sun moreover because the Sun is already such a heavy problem.
but I would like an answer what exactly could happen in case we did.

I don't imagine much would happen to the sun. It wouldn't even notice.

But hte real problem is in the launch phase. People object to moving this stuff by truck on their highways. How safe would it be to be trying to launch it on a rocket through our atmosphere? Over and over and over again (there's a lot of it around)?

The Sun itself generates enough radiation, a little extra will go unnoticed, but The Thorn, you're right, the cost and the danger of the launch would make sure that this option will not be used, unless some (very) cheap and safe method of launch is available.
Cheers.

the biggest danger is safety, like some of our space disaster on earth, maybe this radioactive waste cargo might blow up on the launch pad?


The Sun has a great volume, over well over a million times bigger in size than the earth.
Plus think of its mass, about 300,000 times more mass.
I would think the Sun can easily eat up all the waste we can throw at it

Do you remember the fuss that was made about Cassini??? And that just had a tiny nuclear powerplant to keep it going, far away from the Sun...

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"The stars are my home"
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe... Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion... I've watched c-beams glitter in the dark, near the Tanhauser Gate... all those moments will be lost, in time... like tears in the rain..."

I would tend to aggree with the others, but with one interesting and exceptional idea.
If we ever develop teleporting technology, such as Star Treks 'beam me up Scoty', then perhaps we could transport the stuff far enough from us, and close enough to the Sun so as to pose no danger to us, and have the Sun's gravity just brings it in and vaporize it. :P

But on the other hand, if we had such technology, we could rematerialize radioactive wastes right here on Earth as something inert, or even useful. Possibley even changing wasted nuclear products into a usable fuel again.

My earliest memories were of growing up on Strategic Air Command bases and being made fully aware of the dangers of anything Nuclear, and not just nuclear waste. At the time, some Minuteman silos were experiencing some problems with fuel leaks. Some had exploded in their silos and blown the warheads near the towns they were intended to protect. A couple had been examined and it was found that their triggers had nearly "malfunctioned". When a general at our base wanted to bring in a minuteman missle wing under his command, so that he could get another star, my father and another officer filed their own independent study which killed the project. Somehow they were passed over for promotion.

My father never regretted his decision and told me that it is always best to do the right thing when lives are at stake,and especially when the safety of the planet was at risk.

I have been consciously aware of the discussions regarding the final disposition of nuclear waste for 45 of my 50 years. And, since my father died 32 years ago, and I do not have him to discuss these things with, I had become excited to discuss solutions with those of you in this forum who have shown concerns which I felt we shared.

At the risk of writing something which may offend someone, could I please, and most respectfully ask, when would be the correct decade to bring up the possibility of alternatives to producing the nuclear waste in the first place?

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Pre-Quote: 'To survive one has to experiment. When the environment changes, the traditional way of doing things doesn't work.'

Quote:
"It's the outriders, the organisms that seem to be maladjusted before the change, which are the only ones that survive these changes...in that way a species continues."

Carl Sagan

Seriously though,

Getting rid of the existing waste is very important, and getting it somewhere else(far away from bad people) would make space/into the sun a logical conclusion. As stated by many, accident on launch would be the primary concern. I read somewhere, don't have a link, that if a few pounds of plutonium were to be evenly dispersed into the atmosphere, it be enough to give everyone on the planet a terminal dose(millionth of a gram?)

One technique to reduce that risk is to dilute the waste material into a ceramic mix, and then fire it as small shapes in a kiln to 2400°F. This would vitrify the material and make it hard as heck for anyone to remove the radioactive isotopes. If these were stored temporarily in a mine or other repository, they would also be very impervious to water and other environmental conditions.

If the material was launched and there was a problem, if the rocket exploded, there would be dispersal of the storage shapes, but they should fall back(hopefully into an ocean) relatively intact. You could even texturize the surface to increase air resistance, and they would have a lower terminal velocity, and there would be less chance of fracture and release of the isotopes upon impact, be it land or water.


This is probably no surprise, but I have researched and experimented with energy efficient kilns, and therefore know that is possible to build a kiln which can fire ceramics with 1/10th the energy of a conventional kiln, just in case someone were to suggest that vitrifing the nuclear waste would cost a lot in energy. But, then again, if you were to expend the fuel to launch it into space, I suppose a ceramics firing wouldn't be much extra cost anyway. Of course, the ceramic material would add to the weight and that would require extra fuel. Whoever deals with the solution will certainly have a big if/then checklist/spreadsheet to set up, won't they? :blink:

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Pre-Quote: 'To survive one has to experiment. When the environment changes, the traditional way of doing things doesn't work.'

Quote:
"It's the outriders, the organisms that seem to be maladjusted before the change, which are the only ones that survive these changes...in that way a species continues."

Carl Sagan

What I most feared was eventually the cloud of radioactivity coming back from the Sun together with the flares'stuff. Because what is inside the Sun evoluates to something coming out and threatens life in space (humans or animals sent in space etc... or even dangerous beams entering the atmosphere). Or do you think the interaction between radioactive waste and flares is nihil?

...so they sent in the cat to eat the rat, then they sent in the dog to eat the cat...

:unsure:

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Pre-Quote: 'To survive one has to experiment. When the environment changes, the traditional way of doing things doesn't work.'

Quote:
"It's the outriders, the organisms that seem to be maladjusted before the change, which are the only ones that survive these changes...in that way a species continues."

Carl Sagan

Tom2Mars. If you really have a novel idea on how to make kilns more efficient, I seriously recommend that you look into patenting the process, and starting a company around the design of these kilns.

Anytime people have a novel process or idea (especially one that improves on an old process), they should be encouraged to either publish their ideas, or to profit from them directly. Please, get these new technologies out there!

I've been doing some economic studies into innovation, and the benefits (to a society, as well as the person) are immense, especially over the long term.

You wanna get to Mars? The easiest way is to become rich, and then hiring people to help you.

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Live long enough to see Space!

We can get to space as a species. The above link is information about life-extension (living longer) so that you can personally see a space-based civilization.

The MPrize (a prize to encourage life extension research now contains over 3 million dollars.

Question! When does Southern Hemishphere... gain more hours of daylight? --During what equinox/solstice?

On December 21, south hemisphere will get more than 12 hours of sunlight due to the sun appear on the south celestial equator.

What solstice?
Decemeber is winter time.

Hope this help

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We come without a thing and gone without a thing. We need simple life. A cup of teas and a couple of meals per day, that is good enough. And this is my standard of living.

December is winter time for the northern hemisphere and is summer here in the southern hemisphere

so which solstice is relative to the persons position.

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Damien,
International Baccalaureate Physics teacher
Spectroradiometry Instrumentation Major
Admin: Pacific Science and Art

It'd be even worst if the disaster happened in the atmosphere...

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MacTalk - The Australian Apple Community - iPod, iPhone and Mac.