Is there a way to safely dispose of nuclear waste?
411815
No.If there was we would use nuclear energy.It is not and never was a workable energy source because of the hazards and waste.
562664
Nuclear waste or any radiological material deteriorates in its radioactive properties at a set rate determined by spin of rates of the neutrons that orbit the nucelus of the specific molecule in question. This rate is know as a half life or the time it takes for half the neutrons to spin off. This can only be accelarated by forecfully adding electrons to the molecules of the material, which is another radiological procedure that requires large amounts of electricity.  A very expensive process.  Chemicals have virtualy no effect toward accelarating half rates.
559232
There is a huge problem with the pollution. I don't want to start glowing bright green. With Nuclear power plant comes Nuclear targets for the enemy too. You can't hide them, they glow in the dark.
213660
No you can not. THe air particles would desolve it way faster. THere is no way to preserve it.
303081
Purify it. And then have it in a closed system where nothing can get to it
875231
Call your city sanitary waste department.  They usually have a place you can take hazardous materials....
627741
Clean your harddrive, format it and then use a 3rd party program to repeatively write over your harddrive. Then donate it to a local charity, school, reycling center. \n\nBelieve it or not, some places would welcome a really old computer that can check e-mail and write word processing. Plus you could write it off your taxes, granted not a whole lot, but better then nothing. \n\nThe cell phones are a different story though, same with the printers. Contact the brand and see if there is a place you can recycle them for free. Also, many big cities run eletronic recycling programs. It prevents heavy metals from contaminating water supplies, plus the cities often earn some money from gold extraction.
182000
Well, currently all technologies have their drawback.  I'll go into detail what's up and why:\n\nNuclear fission - older LWR (light water reactors) are inefficient.  They use less and produce more waste as compared to the newer models using heavy water and sodium cooled reactors.  New generations of nuclear fuel are providing greater efficiencies.  I believe the best would had been the Integral Fast Reactor.  This would had provided proliferation resistant means of producing power.  Waste would had been sorted out with their pyroprocessing methods, and stuff that would be buried would have a half life of no more than 100 years.  It could use up LWR waste and other wastes from lesser efficient breeder reactors to produce power indefinitely.  It could convert at most 20% of waste back to fuel, and reuse.  But with the whole process, the waste leaving would be completely free of actinides and other long lasting radioactive materials.  So, nuclear fission would had been my favorite, if there wasn't such a public outcry for the source.  Until public opinion changes, there will not be any new sources in the US for a while.  Additionally, cost overruns of power plant production (because of a lot of safety mechanisms needed) would deter a lot of investors.\n\nNatural Gas - you know gas.  It's gaining a foothold in the US.  Technologies are becoming more efficient and cleaner.\n\nNuclear Fusion - Something for the future, but until it's a proven technology, we can't live off of pipe dreams.\n\nCoal - ah, coal.  It is the current favorite source of power in the US.  There are more advanced power plants called coal gasification power plants which uses scrubbers and other means of cleaning up the air.  This is slated to be replaced by natural gas by DOE's estimates.\n\nWind, Geothermal, and other sources - \nWind requires expensive equipment that could alter the landscape.  Again, go check on the DOE's website, but they require many windmills to achieve what one powerplant can.  Geothermal requires hot sources in the earth.  Yosemite could be one, if it wasn't preserved.  Look at iceland for that. Solar is expensive and dependant of climate conditions.  It is better in the desert, but in cities with varying climates, we are dependant on a consistant power source.  Tidal sources of energy could be feasible if it didn't alter marine life ecosystems.  Currently it's a newer source of energy.  Scientists haven't perfected the technology to provide a competative means of power source.\n\nMy conclusion:\nYes I think coal should be continue to be used for the moment.  Currently, we cannot just change from one source to another because of current technologies and public perception.  There is a great market for this source of power - it won't dissapear in an instant until there are rivalling technologies that could provide comparable rates.  In the end, $$ are the deciding factor between the feasability of one source versus another.
75981
Disposal methods also vary widely. In Australia, the most common method of disposal of solid waste is to landfills, because it is a large country with a low-density population. By contrast, in Japan it is more common for waste to be incinerated, because the country is smaller and land is scarce.\n\nMany local authorities (especially in urban areas) have found it difficult to establish new landfills, due to opposition from adjacent landowners. Few people want a landfill in their local neighbourhood. As a result, solid waste disposal in these areas has become more expensive as material must be transported further away for disposal.
202615
Yes, all you have to do is put it into a sperate container then your regular garbage and just put it out for the garbage people to take.
1059148
I'm pretty sure they incinerate it, but it would all depend on where you are in the world. Probably some places bury it.
1018555
Yes, and all our environmental problems.   At nuclear fusion temperatures you could make a fusion torch that would decompose waste into useful raw materials and transmute radioactive waste into stable elements.   A fusion reactor isn't likely to be small enough to power cars or aircraft, but the cheap energy it produces could be used to synthesise fuels for these vehicles.   We've been researching controlled nuclear fusion since the 1950s and we haven't made much progress.   But it will solve so many problems that it's worth spending vast amounts of money on this field.   Any technology that doesn't violate any fundamental laws of physics will one day work.
1012965
Firstly you can put aside things that you can possibly reuse. Such as papers which are used on one side, empty mineral water bottles, microwavable food containers. Then sort out the rest of your trash into paper, plastic and metallic categories and put them into different bags. The others, you can place them in another bag. This will ease waste collection centre in sorting them. \n\nFor 2nd hand clothes, you can auction it off on Yahoo! auctions or participate in flea markets at Tanglin Mall every weekend. You can also give it away along with your used furniture to the Salvation Army headquarters at Bishan central and they'll resell it to other people. By the way, they provide free transportation services if you're giving away your furniture. So worry not about spending more money to move your trash away.
525755
anything that is dangerous to the enviroment and humans and animals. For example nuclear waste is highly dangerous and is handled by people who wear protective clothing and is put into big containers and stored hundreds of meters below ground in concrete. Also it is dumped deap in the oceans
788031
take it to your local hazardis waste material center, they should know what to do with it:)
819769
Read Angels and Demons. Although the antimatter making technique is totally impractical, it just might be possible to store the stuff in a hand-grenade sized container. Magnetic suspension has already been done, although it would make a large hand grenade with current technology.\nhttp://www.levitron.com/\n\nA truly perfect vacuum really is impossible, but a near-perfect vacuum could be done. Just as long as you eliminate all the gas molecules floating around, you should be safe enough. http://www.physlink.com/Education/AskExperts/ae290.cfm
606001
Fossil fuels: Reduce your car-miles.  Carpool, take public transportation, walk, or ride a bike.  Support the use of clean-burning fuels, like compressed natural gas.\n\nRefuse: Recycle plastics, paper, and metals.  Anything which can be used in any fashion should go to a resale shop.  Try to only use Type 1 and Type 2 plastics, which are easily recyclable.\n\nDon't flush anything besides rain water down storm drains.  \n\nWhen swimming or boating or camping or spending time in the wild, gather your trash and pack it out with you.