[busymom0]

Maybe this is a dumb question but couldn't we ship the waste to another planet (of course once we have rockets capable of doing so but that's not far imo).

[georgemcbay]

We could fly it into the sun, the problem is that until we have a space elevator the only way we have of getting it out of the atmosphere is via rockets and a rocket explosion with a nuclear waste payload would be very bad.

[xoxxala]

It would also be far cheaper to send that nuclear waste to Mars. It takes 55 times the energy to fly to the Sun than it does to go to Mars:

https://www.nasa.gov/solar-system/its-surprisingly-hard-to-g...

[georgemcbay]

Sure but since we're talking about pie in the sky stuff requiring tech we don't yet have to begin with, putting it into the sun is a better permanent solution.

I don't think Elon is ever going to colonize Mars, but other people may someday.

[hollerith]

In addition, even sending it to Mars would be extremely expensive.

[fakedang]

Shower thought: Why send it to Mars when we can send it to uninhabitable Venus? Even gravity might work in our favor.

[saulpw]

Gravity does not work in our favor. It takes energy to go towards the sun.

[mpweiher]

Potentially, but it is much, much safer to dispose of it here.

What's even better is to recycle it, because 95% of the original energy is still in the "waste". And when you do use all of it, the remainder remains radioactive for a much shorter period of time.

[com2kid]

We can just bury it in a cement casket.

There isn't that much of it once it is solidified and it isn't that dangerous.