Lasers could cut lifespan of nuclear waste from "a million years to 30 minutes," says Nobel laureate
bigthink.com
Physicist plans to karate-chop them with super-fast blasts of light.
  • a_Ha@lemmy.ml
    1·
    3 years ago

    ( published 2019-04-04 )

    in theory at least it's okay :

    CPA produces high-intensity, super-short optical pulses that pack a tremendous amount of power (…)
    This capability is what Mourou hopes give CPA a chance of neutralizing nuclear waste, (…)

    Yet, it is not efficient :

    Rodney C. Ewing of Stanford tells Bloomberg, “I can imagine that the physics might work, but the transmutation of high-level nuclear waste requires a number of challenging steps, such as the separation of individual radionuclides, the fabrication of targets on a large scale, and finally, their irradiation and disposal.”