Scientist verifies safe storage for nuclear waste

A Swedish scientist claims to have verified a safe way to store nuclear waste.

Patrik Fors said nuclear waste can be protected safely using a triple shell of copper reinforced by iron, clay, and granite bedrock 500 metres underground.

Chemical reactions this far beneath the earth’s surface mean that even if groundwater breached all three barriers, the reaction between the groundwater and the iron would create large quantities of hydrogen, preventing nuclear waste from dissolving.

Fors claims that using triple shell protection, there is no risk of water contamination for tens of thousands of years, by which time nuclear radiation from the waste will be so depleted that it will pose no environmental threat.

“The hydrogen effect will prevent the dissolution of nuclear fuel until the fuel’s radioactivity is so low that it need no longer be considered a hazard,” Fors said.

He went on to explain how he tested the effect in the laboratory.

“It’s a powerful effect that was not factored in when plans for permanent storage began to be forged, and now I have shown that it’s even more powerful than was previously thought,” Fors said.

All laboratory trials conducted by Fors found that hydrogen protects nuclear waste from being dissolved in water.