Nobel Laureate Wants to Blast Nuclear Waste With Lasers Until It’s Safe

[MechAg94]

https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/300954-nobel-laureate-wants-to-use-lasers-to-blast-nuclear-waste-until-its-safe

With an ultra-fast laser pulse, it may be possible to bombard nuclear waste and knock protons out of the nucleus. That turns a dangerous substance like uranium 235 into something comparatively harmless like lead. Other experts have chimed in to note that the physics makes sense on a theoretical level. However, the logistics of developing the right laser technology, separating out radioactive nuclei, and irradiating them is still beyond our reach.

Sounds like it is still beyond current capabilities, but it is interesting.  Seems to me that designs to use nuclear waste to power reactors is a more practical answer right now.

[charby]

I want that laser, one swipe and the lawn is mowed.

[230RN]

I want that laser, one swipe and the lawn is mowed.

Be aware of your target and what lies beyond.

What lies beyond.  Like your neighbor's house. 

Oh, and beyond the proton you're aiming at.

[MikeB]

Well heck, if they are going to knock a few protons off and turn uranium into lead, knock a few more off and make it gold. Then it can fund itself.

[charby]

Well heck, if they are going to knock a few protons off and turn uranium into lead, knock a few more off and make it gold. Then it can fund itself.

That's alchemy

[MikeB]

That's alchemy

Which is essentially what they are discussing in the article. If only those old alchemists knew about lasers.

[HankB]

I know they've been working on laser induced fusion for decades, but this is the first I've read about laser induced fission.

Directly splitting the bonds of an atomic nucleus via laser sounds a little far fetched to me.

[K Frame]

I bet Sheldon Cooper could have figured it out. If only Big Bang Theory hadn't been cancelled...

[charby]

Which is essentially what they are discussing in the article. If only those old alchemists knew about lasers.

I see my joke bombed...

[230RN]

Well heck, if they are going to knock a few protons off and turn uranium into lead, knock a few more off and make it gold. Then it can fund itself.

Ayup. Only three more of them.

My mind was already going down past lead, so thanks for completing that thought for me.

Seems to me you'd need a really high energy laser... like way past x-rays or even cosmic rays.  Can you make a coherent cosmic ray source?

Sheldon?

Can you?

....Sheldon?

Would this be a CRASER --Cosmic Ray Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation --instead of a LASER?

Terry, 230RN