Scientists bend gamma rays, could neuter radioactive waste

Well well! How interesting!  Could this be the real beginning of a Brave New World?

Bending most light is easy; bending it in gamma ray form, however, has often been deemed impossible given how hard it is for electrons to react to the extreme frequencies. University of Munich scientist Dietrich Habs and his Institut Laue-Langevin teammate Michael Jentschel have proven that assumption wrong: an experiment in blasting a silicon prism has shown that gamma rays will refract just slightly through the right material. If a lens is made out of a large-atom substance like gold to bend the rays further, the researchers envision focused beams of energy that could either detect radioactive material or even make it inert by wiping off neutrons and protons. In theory, it could turn a nuclear power plant's waste harmless. A practical use of the technology is still some distance off -- but that it's even within sight at all just feels like a breakthrough.

Scientists bend gamma rays, could neuter radioactive waste originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 May 2012 05:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scientists bend gamma rays, could neuter radioactive waste
Jon Fingas
Thu, 10 May 2012 09:54:00 GMT

Only Nuclear Can Save the World

The new Chief Scientist at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Professor David MacKay, has presented a pretty compelling argument that we must move to nuclear power as our source of energy (through electricity generation) as quickly as possible if we are to stave off the the worst effects of climate change and global warming.
Nuclear power has had a bad press as a result of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, so many are wary and worried about more of the same.  This is understandable but the historic disasters will rank as nothing against the apocalyptic impact of a 4 degree temperature rise (literally as it will, apart from making life uncomfortable, unleash the Four Horsemen: War, Famine, Pestilence and Death).
So we should go to a nuclear future says Professor MacKay.  A nuclear future would guarantee a bulwark against global warming and a way of providing large-scale desalination of seawater for drinking, vital if we wish to save cities like Adelaide SA and Perth WA and many others,
So we need to get the technology right, the economics sorted and the disposal of waste solved.  But this is not beyond the resources of Mankind.  So I am all for it - the sooner the better!

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