Nuclear waste is tough to handle, and can take thousands of years to decay before it becomes safe again. The waste contains non-toxic sodium ions and highly radioactive cesium isotopes. Removing these harmful isotopes has been difficult as most materials cannot “differentiate” between the radioactive ions and the non-toxic ones. Scientists Mercouri Kanatzidis and Nan Ding from US Department of Energy’s Argonne National Lab, and Northwestern Universtiy respectively, have now come up with a material that could handle these cesium isotopes better.
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When the norm is NIMBY – Not In My Back Yard, there’s a town in Japan’s Fukushima, Prefecture, Naraha, that is willing to be the final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste.

There are some 10 nuclear reactors in Fukushima prefecture. The mayor of Naraha says the “town’s theme is coexistence with our nuclear plant. If safety can be guaranteed, and if our resident’s approve, we would like to host the site” (final disposal site).

How reasonable of them, no sarcasm intended.

A city willing to do their duty to reap the benefits of nuclear power as well as put itself forward for final disposal.

It will be the first time for a city with a nuclear power plant to host a final nuclear waste disposal facility. Imagine how much can be cut in transportation costs, eh?

Kudos to Naraha.

I can see Greenpeace now – wishing and hoping …la la la.

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Images by world-nuclear.org