The scale of the waste created matters. Nuclear energy is about 20% of the US load, and in the entirety of the last 50 years has generated about 100,000 tons of

The scale of the waste created matters. Nuclear energy is about 20% of the US load, and in the entirety of the last 50 years has generated about 100,000 tons of waste. By 2050, the US is estimated to have about 10% of its electricity come from solar panels, and for 78 million tons of waste to have been created by this. We’re essentially talking two orders of magnitude more waste being created, so even if the waste involved is less of a problem it’s far from trivial. And solar panels have plenty of toxic materials in them, so it’s not like just dumping them in a landfill is safe for the surroundings either. If we figure out a good way to recycle solar panels, then it won’t be an issue. If we do just throw them into landfills, the waste issue with solar is only marginally better than nuclear.