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Here in the Kurzgesagt labs we test very important ideas to see what happens when you blow things up or play with black holes. Many of you suggested that we look into an idea that sounds reasonable: Shooting nuclear waste into space. It is one of those concepts that seems like an easy fix for one of the main problems with nuclear energy. But it turns out this idea is not just bad but horribly bad and it gets worse the longer you think about it.
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Content
0.12 -> here in the labs we test very important
3.419 -> ideas to see what happens when you blow
5.819 -> things up or play with black holes many
8.76 -> of you suggested that we look into an
10.32 -> idea that sounds reasonable shooting
12.78 -> nuclear waste into space it's one of
15.9 -> those Concepts that seems like an easy
17.76 -> fix for one of the main problems with
19.98 -> the nuclear energy but it turns out this
22.619 -> idea is not just bad but horribly bad
25.14 -> and it gets worse the longer you think
27.24 -> about it why is that
31.87 -> [Music]
37.28 -> what is nuclear waste
40.32 -> clear waste is a fuzzy term and comes in
42.78 -> categories which vary from country to
44.46 -> country but in general there are three
46.739 -> broad levels ninety percent is low level
49.62 -> nuclear waste tools gloves or trash used
52.44 -> at a nuclear facility that could be
54.6 -> weakly contaminated with some
56.34 -> short-lived radioactivity this stuff is
59.039 -> generally safe for normal disposal
61.739 -> seven percent is intermediate level
63.78 -> nuclear waste mostly materials that have
66.18 -> been in close proximity to a reactor
67.92 -> core long enough to become dangerously
69.84 -> Radioactive with proper handling it's
72.36 -> either safely buried or melted down and
74.64 -> mixed into glass or concrete and stored
76.74 -> deep underground so 97 of nuclear waste
80.7 -> is similar to toxic byproducts from
82.68 -> other Industries not great not terrible
85.68 -> we can handle it
88.02 -> the remaining three percent is where our
90.42 -> problems begin
91.58 -> high-level nuclear waste is very
94.02 -> concentrated spent fuel taken out of a
96.479 -> reactor core
97.799 -> formerly uranium it's now made of
100.079 -> various dangerous and often highly
102 -> radioactive elements as a bonus it's
104.82 -> also incredibly hot and not easy to
107.34 -> handle at all this is what we want to
109.86 -> shoot into space All In All Around 440
113.52 -> active nuclear reactors create about 11
116.46 -> 000 tons of high-level nuclear waste
118.32 -> each year since 1954 we've accumulated
121.74 -> 400 000 tons of dangerous radioactive
124.38 -> waste most countries are dealing with it
126.96 -> by not dealing with it and kicking the
129 -> can towards the future
130.56 -> great so let's launch it into space
133.52 -> according to scientists space is big and
137.459 -> nobody lives there so it seems perfect
140.16 -> for eating away this mess there are a
143.34 -> few tiny problems though problem one
146.34 -> stuff ain't cheap
149.28 -> even though space flight is getting more
151.2 -> affordable it's still extremely
153.36 -> expensive just to get something into low
156.12 -> earth orbit costs on average about four
158.58 -> thousand dollars per kilogram
160.56 -> putting that into perspective it costs
162.9 -> about one thousand six hundred dollars
164.519 -> to mine separate and fabricate one
166.92 -> kilogram of nuclear fuel so launching
169.44 -> waste into space has suddenly made
171.599 -> nuclear fuel for reactors way more
173.819 -> expensive and greatly increased the cost
176.4 -> of the electricity they produce to
179.16 -> launch one reactor's worth of nuclear
181.26 -> waste would cost at least 100 million
183.78 -> dollars per year
185.34 -> to deal with all the 440 operational
187.739 -> nuclear power plants high-level nuclear
189.9 -> waste would cost some 44 billion dollars
192.239 -> per year for space launch before
193.86 -> packaging transport and security costs
196.62 -> are added
197.76 -> okay let's pretend we don't care
199.739 -> currently we couldn't shoot all the
202.019 -> nuclear waste into space even if we
203.819 -> wanted to there's just aren't enough
205.739 -> Rockets
206.94 -> in 2021 we saw a record 135 launches
211.08 -> into space if we repurposed each of
213.78 -> those rockets and filled them all with
215.58 -> nuclear waste the total amount that
217.319 -> could be lifted into a low earth orbit
219.06 -> which is the closest orbit above the
220.68 -> atmosphere is nearly 800 tons
223.86 -> we'd need at least 14 times more Rockets
226.44 -> to handle just today's nuclear waste let
228.84 -> alone get rid of the hundreds of
230.28 -> thousands of tons in temporary storage
231.98 -> we would need to create entire new Space
234.9 -> Industries to keep up with the demand
236.879 -> for giant toxic Space trash trucks and
240.48 -> it gets worse
242.58 -> problem 2 space is hard
245.64 -> we only made the calculation for low
247.5 -> earth orbit where we send most of our
249.48 -> rockets and satellites
251.22 -> littering the space around Earth with
253.14 -> thousands of casts have spent nuclear
254.939 -> fuel would be a nightmare for space junk
256.979 -> management and satellite collision
258.72 -> avoidance
260.04 -> we're still at this altitude there's
262.68 -> still a little bit of atmosphere causing
264.3 -> a tiny bit of drag so we might have
266.28 -> nuclear waste raining down from space
268.08 -> within just a few years experts would
270.84 -> call this a huge problem clearly we have
274.259 -> to launch our waste further if we wanted
276.9 -> to send it to perhaps the moon we either
279.54 -> need way more Rockets or we need to
281.759 -> build much bigger ones
283.5 -> making it even more expensive a single
286.68 -> Saturn V the rocket used by the Apollo
288.9 -> program which cost around 1.5 billion
291.36 -> adjusted for inflation per launch could
293.4 -> get about 43.5 tons from the Earth to
295.979 -> the Moon
297.12 -> so we'd need about 260 Saturn V rocket
300.18 -> launches every year and of course using
302.639 -> the moon as target practice for nuclear
304.68 -> waste tipped Rockets kind of makes a
306.78 -> huge mess
308.4 -> so maybe don't aim for anything space is
311.1 -> empty do we really need a Target
313.74 -> shooting waste in any random direction
315.96 -> is you guessed it also a bad idea orbits
320.46 -> are Loops which means they have a
322.08 -> tendency to come back to where they
323.639 -> started put enough in the sky in random
326.46 -> directions and you'll get one back
328.62 -> eventually
329.88 -> so we'd want to launch our nuclear waste
332.1 -> deep into space which means we need even
334.56 -> bigger rockets that would be even more
336.419 -> expensive
337.86 -> not that we would be completely safe
339.72 -> then Earth might run into these
342.06 -> interplanetary caskets at some time in
344.039 -> the far future and experience a pretty
346.44 -> meteor shower made from radioactive dust
349.46 -> okay how about we shoot it into the sun
353.479 -> ironically the sun is pretty hard to hit
357.3 -> while the sun has very strong gravity
359.34 -> everything on Earth is moving with
361.44 -> respect to the Sun including the rockets
363.6 -> that we launch meaning a rocket would
365.58 -> have to cancel out all the orbital
367.32 -> motion it has around the Sun so it can
369.479 -> stop orbiting and fall in
372 -> because of this it's actually easier to
374.4 -> launch a rocket entirely out of the
376.199 -> solar system than it is to launch it
378.18 -> into the sun
379.8 -> but to do either of these things we need
382.139 -> even bigger Rockets probably the biggest
384.3 -> we've ever built
386.1 -> hmm nothing works the thing is it gets
390.96 -> even worse problem three rockets go
396.539 -> rocket engineering has taken huge steps
398.88 -> since the Apollo era we've made them
401.1 -> relatively safe we've mostly replaced
403.68 -> the toxic explosive cancer fuels of the
405.9 -> past decades with much sailor mixes of
408.3 -> liquid oxygen and hydrogen or kerosene
411 -> the newest designs even land themselves
413.46 -> so that they can be reused and yet out
417.36 -> of the 146 launches in 2021 there were
420.84 -> 11 failures which means that a sizable
423.419 -> number of our Rockets carrying
424.86 -> high-level radioactive waste would be
427.139 -> exploding on the launch pad or in the
429.12 -> worst case disassembling at high
430.979 -> altitude or crashing from Hypersonic
433.44 -> speeds each failure would be at least
435.9 -> equivalent to a miniature Noble but
437.94 -> instead of being contained under a slab
439.68 -> of concrete spread throughout the
441.419 -> atmosphere radioactive particles could
443.88 -> make their way to far away places by
445.919 -> riding on the winds most would fall into
448.319 -> the ocean but some would land on the
450.36 -> inhabited parts of the world
452.34 -> they could cover farmlands and get
454.44 -> concentrated into our food or enter our
456.78 -> water supply which is well bad imagine
460.139 -> regular large-scale nuclear disasters
462.3 -> happening people wouldn't be happy
465.08 -> conclusion and opinion part
467.88 -> nuclear waste is scary but the fear of
470.699 -> it and horrible ideas like shooting it
472.74 -> into space reveals how bad we are at
475.259 -> understanding risk because the largest
477.84 -> amounts of radioactive elements like
479.4 -> uranium and radon are actually released
481.86 -> by coal burning millions of tons of coal
484.86 -> each year leaves Ash as a waste product
487.08 -> that includes about 36 000 tons of
489.9 -> radioactive materials
491.699 -> less radioactive than high-level nuclear
494.22 -> waste but there's also a lot more of it
496.38 -> and it's handled way less carefully
499.08 -> some of this ash is caught by filters
501.12 -> but most is simply pushed back into
503.039 -> leaky mines shoved into piles exposed to
505.56 -> the wind or poured into ponds that
508.02 -> regularly spilled into rivers and lakes
510.599 -> living within 1.6 kilometers of an ash
513.24 -> pile increases your cancer risk up to 2
516.18 -> 000 times over the acceptable limit and
519 -> this is on top of other toxic chemicals
521.099 -> like heavy metals and of course their
523.38 -> massive CO2 emissions
525.42 -> and yet while nuclear energy is flawed
527.88 -> and its current form may only be a
529.68 -> transitory technology nuclear power
531.72 -> plants are a harder cell than coal
534.08 -> nuclear waste and the lack of
536.16 -> willingness to deal with it are a real
538.14 -> issue it's not insurmountable though
541.68 -> there are good methods to handle it like
544.08 -> burying it deep underground or
546 -> reprocessing some of it into new fuel
547.98 -> but however we ultimately deal with this
550.74 -> issue we hope one thing is clear
552.54 -> shooting nuclear waste into space is one
555.779 -> of the worst ideas ever
559.08 -> researching this crazy thing conducting
561.839 -> all of these important tests and of
563.94 -> course creating this video took us
565.98 -> around 2 000 hours which is insane for a
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