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Moreover, the partially spent fuel* can be reprocessed to the point of getting more than 99% of the potential energy out of it, and then chemically processed in
by mikece 4y ago
Moreover, the partially spent fuel* can be reprocessed to the point of getting more than 99% of the potential energy out of it, and then chemically processed into a safe and stable state beyond that -- if only such processing was permitted everywhere Uranium is being used to make heat for generating electricity.
*calling partially spent fuel "waste" ignores that current policy only allows for 5 to 10% of the energy in a unit of uranium fuel to be extracted and used. It's not "waste" until all of the usable fuel has been extracted through recycling.
- jjk166 4y agoReprocessing is generally expensive, poses a substantial proliferation risk, and necessitates transport of spent fuel to reprocessing plants which is way less safe than on-site storage. While it's fine for a country like France which is already a nuclear weapons state, has the wealth and technological capability to carry out reprocessing, and a strong rule of law to make sure everything is done right; for most of the world reprocessing would not be done in practice, and you wouldn't really want it to be done. Nuclear waste is simply not a problem in need of a solution.