Nuclear waste can be stored relatively safely by vitrification.
If such waste were incorporated, at trace levels, into vitreous ceramic bathroom fixtures, along with a suitably phosphorescent compound, they would glow in the dark, yet pose no threat to health as the nuclides would be entrapped within the ceramic matrix.
Millions of new bathroom fixtures are produced every year so this would quickly consume stocks of waste.... and there would be no need to turn the bathroom light on, thus avoiding unpleasant shocks to the retina.-- 8th of 7, Nov 27 2009 Yes. Yes yes. Yes yes yes. Yes yes yes yes.
Yes.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 27 2009 Question 1: Would safe trace levels be enough to self illuminate?
Question 2: Can the Borg be trusted to not give a false answer?-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 28 2009 Ah yes, the story of the Radium Girls.-- normzone, Nov 28 2009 //the story of the Radium Girls.// who ingested radium paint as they shaped the tips of their brushes. Normy, do you often lick your bidet?-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 28 2009 It would make disposal of this ceramic pretty problematic though right?
None the less, this is the HB, so a bun for you.-- Germanicus, Nov 28 2009 Careful, [21Q], if you don't watch out you might begin to risk being a cynic....
// disposal of this ceramic pretty problematic //
Just flush it down the pan ....-- 8th of 7, Nov 28 2009 // disposal of this ceramic pretty problematic // Not really. It would only be an issue if you crushed it up into a powder fine enough to inhale, I think.
The point is, if you just spread all the nuclear waste uniformly across the whole planet, each person would, in a lifetime, be exposed to the same amount of extra radiation as if they went for a 30 minute ride in a commercial airliner.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 28 2009 If that's true, I'll post a re-entry dispersal system for nuclear waste.
ps. sorry for being a bit quiet of late [MB]-- wagster, Nov 28 2009 Yo Wag, nichte probyiemi, czapzi. Binvencza aldo hivertzoi.
I think it would be much more fun to instigate a worldwide bidet provision programme. I think, as far as I can tell, that each human being would need somewhere between 3 and 4 bidets, in order to handle current stockpiles. Once these are dealt with, and assuming a gradual expansion of nuclear power, an additional bidet every 10-14 years would suffice.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 28 2009 That could turn out to be an interesting socio-genetic experiment - with the societies which know what to do with a bidet exhibiting expanded local gene pools.-- VaquitaTim, Nov 30 2009 random, halfbakery