>
 
                    
                    
                    
                    
                     Pentagon Creating National Guard 'Quick Reaction Forces' Across US: Reports
Pentagon Creating National Guard 'Quick Reaction Forces' Across US: Reports
 Tulsi Gabbard confirms official probe into Anthony Fauci for perjury...
Tulsi Gabbard confirms official probe into Anthony Fauci for perjury...
 Sen John Kennedy exposes the US Department of Interior under Biden created a DEI program for owls
Sen John Kennedy exposes the US Department of Interior under Biden created a DEI program for owls
 Grassley Investigates Gates, Rockefeller, and Ford Foundations Over Alleged CCP Funding
Grassley Investigates Gates, Rockefeller, and Ford Foundations Over Alleged CCP Funding
 Graphene Dream Becomes a Reality as Miracle Material Enters Production for Better Chips, Batteries
Graphene Dream Becomes a Reality as Miracle Material Enters Production for Better Chips, Batteries
 Virtual Fencing May Allow Thousands More Cattle to Be Ranched on Land Rather Than in Barns
Virtual Fencing May Allow Thousands More Cattle to Be Ranched on Land Rather Than in Barns
 Prominent Personalities Sign Letter Seeking Ban On 'Development Of Superintelligence'
Prominent Personalities Sign Letter Seeking Ban On 'Development Of Superintelligence'
 Why 'Mirror Life' Is Causing Some Genetic Scientists To Freak Out
 Why 'Mirror Life' Is Causing Some Genetic Scientists To Freak Out
 Retina e-paper promises screens 'visually indistinguishable from reality'
Retina e-paper promises screens 'visually indistinguishable from reality'
 Scientists baffled as interstellar visitor appears to reverse thrust before vanishing behind the sun
Scientists baffled as interstellar visitor appears to reverse thrust before vanishing behind the sun
 Future of Satellite of Direct to Cellphone
Future of Satellite of Direct to Cellphone
 Amazon goes nuclear with new modular reactor plant
Amazon goes nuclear with new modular reactor plant
 China Is Making 800-Mile EV Batteries. Here's Why America Can't Have Them
China Is Making 800-Mile EV Batteries. Here's Why America Can't Have Them

Nuclear energy is carbon free, which makes it an attractive and practical alternative to fossil fuels, as it doesn't contribute to global warming. We also have the infrastructure for it already in place. It's nuclear waste that makes fission bad for the environment. And it lasts for so long, some isotopes for thousands of years. Nuclear fuel is comprised of ceramic pellets of uranium-235 placed within metal rods. After fission takes place, two radioactive isotopes are left over: cesium-137 and strontium-90.
These each have half-lives of 30 years, meaning the radiation will be half gone by that time. Transuranic wastes, such as Plutonium-239, are also created in the process. This has a half-life of 24,000 years. These materials are highly radioactive, making them extremely dangerous to handle, even with short-term exposure.
The typical nuclear power plant creates about 2,300 tons of waste annually. 99 reactors are currently employed in the United States. That's a lot of waste per year. The US is currently stockpiling 75,000 tons of nuclear waste. It is carefully stored and maintained. However, just like anything else it is vulnerable to natural disasters, human error, even terrorism. Storage is also costly. American taxpayers are on the hook for tens of millions of dollars.
So what can be done? Researchers at the University of Bristol in the UK have a solution. Geochemist Tom Scott and colleagues have invented a method to encapsulate nuclear waste within diamonds, which as a battery, can provide a clean energy supply lasting in some cases, thousands of years.