this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2025
327 points (97.1% liked)

Just Post

1417 readers
94 users here now

Just post something 💛

Lemmy's general purpose discussion community with no specific topic.

Sitewide lemmy.world rules apply here.

Additionally, this is a no AI content community. We are here for human interaction, not AI slop! Posts or comments flagged as AI generated will be removed.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
suns3t@lemmy.world
dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world
327
24 years of nuclear waste from the Maine Yankee powerplant (infosec.pub)
submitted 7 months ago by Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net to c/justpost@lemmy.world
151 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Operated from 1972 to 1996 and produced 119 billion kilowatt hours of energy

Dry cask storage is a method for safely storing spent nuclear fuel after it has cooled for several years in water pools. Once the fuel rods are no longer producing extreme heat, they are sealed inside massive steel and concrete casks that provide both radiation shielding and passive cooling through natural air circulation—no water is needed. Each cask can weigh over 100 tons and is engineered to resist earthquakes, floods, fire, and even missile strikes. This makes it a robust interim solution until permanent deep geological repositories are available. The casks are expected to last 50–100 years, though the fuel inside remains radioactive for thousands. Dry cask storage reduces reliance on crowded spent fuel pools, provides a secure above-ground option, and buys time for nations to develop long-term disposal strategies. In essence, it’s a durable, self-contained “vault” for nuclear waste

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] SpaceScotsman@startrek.website 0 points 7 months ago

24 years of waste? I find it immensely annoying that this is 8 x 4 pairs of casks and not 6 x 4. We should just dump a couple of columns, it will be much neater then.