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Would this not become more of an issue if nuclear actually was embraced on a global scale? I mean, eventually we would run out of safe storage - the question wo
by xythum 8y ago
Would this not become more of an issue if nuclear actually was embraced on a global scale? I mean, eventually we would run out of safe storage - the question would then be whether that would be in 20, 50, 100 years (and whether some better option would exist by then).
Disclaimer - I have no idea of the numbers involved so aware this may be a ridiculously trivial issue
- kijin 8y agoOne of the reasons we're producing so much radioactive waste is that we're too scared to reprocess spent fuel. There's a lot of fissionable material remaining in the "spent" fuel that can be recovered, enriched, and thrown back into a reactor. The more cycles you put it through, the less waste you'll end up with. But the same process can also be used to make bombs, so we force everyone to keep the spent fuel in a bunker or something.
- pfdietz 8y agoThe deeper reason is that we don't need to reprocess spent fuel now, and that it's cheaper to wait.