If radioactive waste emits heat, why can’t we use it to produce energy?
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The vast majority of nuclear waste is not nearly as radioactive as people believe. The amount of High Level Waste (HLW) ever produced could fit in an area the size of a football field (pitch). There is some research around recycling HLW and using in alternative reactor designs, but it is still in the early stages.
“Most nuclear waste produced is hazardous, due to its radioactivity, for only a few tens of years and is routinely disposed of in near-surface disposal facilities (see above). Only a small volume of nuclear waste (~3% of the total) is long-lived and highly radioactive and requires isolation from the environment for many thousands of years.”
https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-wastes/radioactive-wastes-myths-and-realities.aspx
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