Eli5 why can’t radioactive waste be used again? Why is it waste?
In: 288
The overwhelming majority of radioactive waste isn’t spent fuel. It doesn’t matter how many contaminated gloves or boots you can find. You’ll never be able to harvest a meaningful amount of fuel from them. The small portion of waste that is spent fuel can often be recycled, however cost, infrastructure, or legislature make it unfeasible in many locations.
>The vast majority of the waste (90% of total volume) is composed of only lightly-contaminated items, such as tools and work clothing
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>By contrast, high-level waste – mostly comprising used nuclear (sometimes referred to as spent) fuel that has been designated as waste from the nuclear reactions – accounts for just 3% of the total volume of waste
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>France, Japan, Germany, Belgium and Russia have all used plutonium recycling to generate electricity, whilst also reducing the radiological footprint of their waste
[https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/what-is-nuclear-waste-and-what-do-we-do-with-it.aspx](https://world-nuclear.org/nuclear-essentials/what-is-nuclear-waste-and-what-do-we-do-with-it.aspx)
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