Eli5 why can’t radioactive waste be used again? Why is it waste?
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When nuclear fuel decays it will break apart into lighter atoms. There is a whole cascade of different elements they go through by decaying further and yes this does release more heat.
At some point they turn into stuff that is still radioactive but only decaying very slowly. That means the energy output is extremely low, and it will take very long until it stops being radioactive.
We have spent fuel treatment centers. What they do is seperating that crazy mix of different decay stages in reusing the parts that are still usefull while sealing away the parts that are useless and just a hazard
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