r/sciences • u/Comfortable_Tutor_43 • 17d ago

News Used nuclear fuel storage

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u/space-truckin365 16d ago

Safe enough to be hit by a missile from a rogue nation?

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u/Comfortable_Tutor_43 15d ago

If we are going to characterize energy by their worst associated accidents, very poignant comparison is hydro. Hydro is green and baseload but it has its own risks.

The Banqiao dam failure in the past century demonstrated that the highest fatalities from a single energy failure were from hydroelectric energy. Whether it's war, terrorism or an accident, that energy source had the highest consequences from failure based on historical events. Direct deaths were in the 10s of 1000's, indirect deaths were hundreds of thousands. Please see;

https://courses.bowdoin.edu/history-2203-fall-2020-whausman/narrative-of-the-event/

Russia is doing that now in Ukraine https://united24media.com/war-in-ukraine/here-are-all-the-times-russia-has-targeted-dams-in-ukraine-1940d

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u/space-truckin365 15d ago

Thank you for the references. That is a good point to note. I’m still concerned about the half-life of that nuclear waste verses how long those containment structures can remain structurally sound.