'Hey you! You have the space! Yeah, let's see if we can dump our sh*t there!'
How unfortunate that we have space, natural resources etc. What makes them think that we want this crap? *scratches head*. The theoretical justification is that we have the space and the technology to be able to handle it better than anyone else. And it will boost out economy my 1%. Yeah, as if we need the money...1% boost to GDP v's nuclear waste. BIG decision there!!!!
My reply to this 'justification' - You also have the technology and the ability to handle it. Take care of your own mess.
Any Australian govt that agrees to this proposal will commit political suicide. I just can't fathom the density of the people that made the proposal!
Let me know if any country wants the sum total of nuclear waste of the world. I'll give them some sleeping pills, and ask them where they keep their wallets, and if they'd mind if I burned their houses down, as they won't be needing them any longer.
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I drink therefore I am.
-Descartes
*grumbles a lot about the U.S. government, excusing the other involved parties who were probably just not thinking straight*
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"Audaces fortuna juvat."
"Fortune favours the bold."
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"I have come to the conclusion that one man is called a disgrace, that two are called a law firm, and that three on the law become a congress! And by God I have had this Congress!"
--John Adams, "1776"
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Josh: I think they're getting to know each other a bit too well, if you catch my drift.
Me: Oh, I agree. I think they're spending too much time together, that is of course, if you catch my drift.
Asher: I think he's *ucking her, and he's cheating on his wife, and he's risking his marriage, and if his wife finds out about it she'll leave him and take their son, and his life will be ruined. If you catch my drift...
1.) It's illegal, at least technically. According to the Outer Space Treaty, no nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction can be placed into orbit. Now, the U.S. and Russia generally turn a blind eye to nuclear material that isn't a weapon, such as the Cassini launch. But I doubt very much that either side will be willing to ignore large amounts of radioactive material being launched.
2.) It's prohibitively expensive. It took the largest rocket the U.S. has, the Saturn V, just to send Apollo to the Moon. What you're asking would require an even larger rocket. I don't think that even the Russian Energya, currently the most powerful rocket design in existance, could boost a significant amount of material towards the sun.
3.) It's dangerous. The Energya, for instance, has a 50% success rate. U.S. rockets are a bit better, but the threat remains.
Eliminating nuclear waste by vaporizing it in the sun seems, on the surface, to be the safest and most elegant solution. And someday it might be. But we need to wait for more advanced propulsion technologies.
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"I'm sick, like Nixon was sick, my defeated heart keeps beating on. I won't die, like Chucky won't die."
--
They Might Be Giants
Of COURSE I'm kidding.
I just listened to this audiotape of a short story, set in the future, where science and technology, long the despoilers, have finally been used to condense all toxic wasted generated each year into a small, doughnut-shaped object.
Then, in a lavish ceremony at the end of each year (fiscal), hosted by a "Mr. Crystal," one citizen (of the world) is chosen, and in front of a world wide television audience...
They eat it.
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*I only SEEM Normal*
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"I'm sick, like Nixon was sick, my defeated heart keeps beating on. I won't die, like Chucky won't die."
--
They Might Be Giants
quote:
Firing it into space would be the easiest solution, but could you imagine what would happen if the thing pulled a Challenger?
It would contaiminate a huge slice of the world with leathal doses of radiation. It has to go somewhere, and frankly, I'd rather it get buried in Australia than Canada. Of course, it makes the most sense just to stick in in Siberia. Besides, the Russians need the money.
Jarish, my point is this: Australia has no nuclear power generators. I'll be damned if I'm going to allow anyone to dump their crap here.
Canada has plenty of open space to take care of it's own waste, what makes you think we would want it???
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I drink therefore I am.
-Descartes
You know, so much of the bad press nuclear power gets is not due to the inherent danger, but because people cut corners or act carelessly.
If you carefully buried waste in a secure area, in such a way that in a century when spaceflight was more safe, you could remove it & ship it to the sun, then it'd be no problem. But no, governments prefer to just dig a deep well, preferably on someone else's land, and throw the garbage down it and forget about it. 
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An unborn scream burst in my stomach,
and spread like cold mercury through my chest.
I covered my face with my hands, but kept looking through my fingers.
"Write that down!", he told the stick.
"Is visibly destroyed, yet unable to turn away".
- Blue Jam
Canada is in on this? Grrr. We do have plenty of space, that's for sure. One of the least densely packed countries in the world... Hm. Perhpas the most least packed. This is intolerable!
They'd better not get away with this.
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"Audaces fortuna juvat."
"Fortune favours the bold."
In all seriousness, I don't support this proposal at all. But logically Australia is perhaps the best spot in the world to do this. (There and in Belgrade)
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"......"
�������������-The Breen at Internment Camp 371
Don't use those punctuation points unless you mean it.
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'My rigid grill structure...'
-Dinobot
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I drink therefore I am.
-Descartes
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Garak: Interesting. You saved the day by destroying the world.
Bashir: I bet they didn't teach you that in the Obsidian Order.
-Deep Space Nine, "Our Man Bashir."
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I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer. (McCoy in "Devil in the Dark")
www.uni-siegen.de/~ihe/bs/startrek/
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I drink therefore I am.
-Descartes
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"I'm sick, like Nixon was sick, my defeated heart keeps beating on. I won't die, like Chucky won't die."
--
They Might Be Giants
[This message was edited by Sol System on April 22, 1999.]
As for nuclear waste disposal, I agree with Daryus Aden, shipping all of the waste to Australia is a bad idea. The farther you have to move the waste, the greater the risk. I don't see why Canada has to move it's waste to another country at all, there are plenty of reasonably good disposal sites here, especially in the Canadian shield, although its prohibitively expenisve to carve a facility out of solid rock. But if they choose the site in the right spot, and take the right precautions, contamination risk is usually very low. Much lower than putting the waste onto a ship and sailing halfway around the world.
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"Sometimes you get the bear, and sometimes the bear gets you."
-Commander Riker, USS Enterprise
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(Insert witty, attention-grabbing and extremely cool signature that inspires envy from all who see it Here.)
Codd - you think we need the money? LMAO. I think not. That and the fact that even 50 times the ammount of money would not be worth the risk.
By the way, it's your 'huge unoccupied land mass' so you can dump your own shit there =).
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'Sir, you've been ordered not to take Polermo'
'Ring General HQ, ask them if they want me to give it back'.
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'Sir, you've been ordered not to take Polermo'
'Ring General HQ, ask them if they want me to give it back'.
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I'm a doctor, not a bricklayer. (McCoy in "Devil in the Dark")
www.uni-siegen.de/~ihe/bs/startrek/
Can you shed any light on it?
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'Sir, you've been ordered not to take Polermo'
'Ring General HQ, ask them if they want me to give it back'.
As to Germany's nuclear situation I always though Germany was strongly against nuclear weapons. Currently they are co-operating with the Canadian government to try end NATO's first use policy. But I may be wrong.