Laser lights renders radioactive waste safe

The Scotsman ^ | Wednesday, 6 August, 2003 | JAMES REYNOLDS

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

DANGERS associated with radioactive waste, and the problems and huge expense of its disposal could soon end after a Scottish researcher discovered how to neutralise its harmful effects using light.

New research by a leading scientist at the University of Strathclyde could revolutionise the waning fortunes of the nuclear power industry - restoring both political and public faith in an energy source that was once hailed as the future of clean, green energy.

Using a laser, Professor Ken Ledingham has successfully transformed one of the deadliest products of nuclear fission into inert matter in minutes.

The Vulcan laser, housed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, has enabled Prof Ledingham and his team to use nothing more than the focused energy contained in light to excite the nucleus of the iodine 129 isotope, with a radioactive half life of 15.7 million years.

When hit with laser light the isotope becomes totally inert and safe to handle in less than an hour.

If developed on a commercial scale the technology would transform nuclear power generation from a hazardous and prohibitively expensive means of power production by making it safer and cheaper, as well as opening a potentially huge lead for the UK.

It is forecast that such lasers could achieve pulse powers greater than the electrical power generated by all the world´s power plants combined. Laser driven nuclear power means that radioactive material can be dealt with on site.

Prof Ledingham said: "The question of transmutation of all radioactive waste is a long way down the track, probably ten to 20 years. The only way of doing this at present is by building huge accelerators. However, in the same time lasers will develop enormously and so there will be two players on the block."

[Zathras]

Interesting find but it sounds like BS to me.

[far sider]

This is a hoax. Even if he found a way to do this in the lab there's no way it can work on a large scale.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

The laser also turns the waste into gold.

Can they beam it on NJ?

[samuel_adams_us]

Actually it might be possible, LASER does stand for Light Amplified Serial Emitted Radiation and using the charge from one form of radiation against another is exactly how we ended up with nuclear power in the first place, the discharge of radiation and energy.

[ChewedGum]

Sounds too good to be true, but I will wait for more information before I make a judgement.

Would it be possible for the energy in the coherent light beam to have that kind of effect on the radioactive material? I'm thinking they mean it excites the material so it's half life decreases so much that it burns itself out very quickly. Any other ideas out there?

Gum

[samuel_adams_us]

I agree, kind of like putting a car battery to direct ground.

[Willie Green]

Have you heard anything about this?

[wildbill]

If true it will be a terrible blow to the Greens and other wacky enviros. They can only raise money by howling about imminent doom to the planet unless we get rid of humans.

[Petronski]

It sounds great...and impossible.

[thulldud]

These fellows have been working on this for some years. They have a way of spreading a laser pulse out and reconcentrating it into a very short blast of tremendous power--enough to affect atomic nuclei. They can already kick U-238 into fission with lasers, so why not try it on radwaste?

Relevant article here.

[Gorzaloon]

The Vulcan laser, housed at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory near Oxford, has enabled Prof Ledingham and his team to use nothing more than the focused energy contained in light to excite the nucleus of the iodine 129 isotope, with a radioactive half life of 15.7 million years. When hit with laser light the isotope becomes totally inert and safe to handle in less than an hour.

Techno-Barf.

Show me the transitions.

Provisional Top Quack Declaration.

[samuel_adams_us]

I thought it was possible, I remember reading the book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" and I remember part of how they actually made the reactions which created the plutionium, etc. I am going to go back through that book tonight and see how it all fits together with LASER.

[tortoise]

Sounds too good to be true, but I will wait for more information before I make a judgement.

My bullshit meter is pegged -- the physics is inconsistent and doesn't follow. While you can accelerate the decay of radioactive waste, it usually requires particle "radiation", not actual EM radiation (e.g. a laser). This is essentially what happens in fast breeder reactors -- you "burn up the radioactivity" very fast and convert it into useful energy, leaving very little radioactive waste. But it has absolutely nothing to do with EM radiation or lasers.

[Springman]

Maybe they can power the laser
with cold fusion?

[I got the rope]

I believe the University of Rochester's Laser Fusion Research Facility is working on sustaining a controlled fusion reaction with Hydrogen.

[tortoise]

They can already kick U-238 into fission with lasers, so why not try it on radwaste?

If you actually could make arbitrary isotope radwaste decay that fast (as opposed to selective isotopic material), you have two very obvious problems. First, the energy requirements alone would make this fantastically expensive on an industrial scale. Second, you would need some really heavy shielding because the complete fission decay of that much material would generate one hell of a nasty particle and radiation flux.

[3Lean]

"Actually it might be possible, LASER does stand for Light Amplified Serial Emitted Radiation and using the charge from one form of radiation against another is exactly how we ended up with nuclear power in the first place, the discharge of radiation and energy. "

That sounds scientific, but what on earth do you mean? The radiation emitted from a laser is light (generally UV or visible). The radiation emitted from nuclear waste is at totally different levels (gamma rays) or made up of particles (alpha rays).
The radiation (light) from the laser isn't used to "neutralize" the radiation nor is it being used to stop the emission. I suspect the opposite, the nucleus is excited to the point that the probability of it's splitting is much higher than normal, resulting in a mass emission, followed by inertness. If this is the case I'm not sure I'd like to be around when they "neutralize" a big pile of waste as the ambient radiation might get a bit dangerous as you stimulate 10,000 years worth of emission in one hour.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

[FreeMe2]

LASER - Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation.