
Lasers could cut lifespan of nuclear waste from “a million years to 30 minutes,” - jelliclesfarm
http://Www.bigthink.com/technology-innovation/laser-nuclear-waste.html
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gus_massa
> _If he gets pulses 10,000 times faster, he says he can modify waste on an
> atomic level._

> _Mourou and Tajima hope to be able to shrink the distance a light beam has
> to travel to transmute atoms by a further 10,000 times._

The article is not very clear, and it makes no sense to use a short (in time)
pulse and even less a short (in distance) pulse.

Perhaps they want to increase the frequency of the light 10,000 times that
will shrink the wavelength and period 10,000 times. It also increases 10,000
times the energy of each photon so it _may_ induce nuclear reactions. This
would create a gama-ray laser. It looks very difficult.

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helph67
404 error. Here's the full link... [https://bigthink.com/technology-
innovation/laser-nuclear-was...](https://bigthink.com/technology-
innovation/laser-nuclear-waste)

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jelliclesfarm
Thanks. My bad. I can’t seem to edit the url anymore.

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simonblack
"magical" thinking.

Meanwhile, what happens with the energy surplus/deficit which occurs with
changing one nucleus to another?

To put that another way, think of "a million years" of breakdown energy being
released in a mere "30 minutes".

I reckon it's a scam in trying to attract 'research funds'.

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ohiovr
At non trivial rates?

