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Mine The Moon For Helium-3

Rob Kennedy writes "A story at The Daily Cardinal is reporting that UW-Madison researchers are looking to mine the moon for helium-3 as an energy source, which supposedly would yield about 1000 times more energy per pound than coal. Although there are several hurdles that would need to be cleared, The Associated Press mentions one catch in particular: 'The researchers still are working on building a helium-3 reactor that would produce more energy than it takes in.' Indeed. SciScoop has a more in-depth discussion of the prospect."

2 of 644 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Is there REALLY anything wrong with Fission pow by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    Strontium-90 has a half life of less than a century and is a beta emitter. It's not a huge problem. The stuff that is the real problem (Gamma emitters, etc) are in very small quantities and are NOT highly radioactive. If they were, they'd have shorter half-lives.

    In any case, a breeder reactor can reuse the "waste". Carter was just afraid that terrorist boogey men would somehow get ahold of the materials if they were reprocessed.

    Even if we assume that "nuclear waste" can't be reprocessed, there's very little of it. Besides, it's unfair to call it "waste". Some of us want that stuff!

  2. Re:...and I quote... by Uma+Thurman · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Nice with the hate.

    --
    This is America, damnit. Speak Spanish!