It just seems counterproductive because waste has to be stored, so why are we still using it?
In: Chemistry
They produce an enormous amount of electricity, which we need, and their waste is actually quite small compared to other energy generation techniques. And they produce no greenhouse gases, which is a huge plus.
The US produces about 2000 tonnes of nuclear waste from power plants a year. Now, that seems like a large number right? I mean, 2000 tonnes? That’s a lot of tonnes. But actually, not really. Some waterfalls have 2000 tonnes of water go over them every minute. But of course, it’s still not radioactive.
Recycling is becoming a thing. After the spent fuel is removed from the reactors, there is now emerging technology that can recycle it. It still has most of it’s energy, just not enough for the power plant to be efficient. France has already been recycling it’s spent fuel for a while now, and the US is starting to.
Here is an interesting factoid. If you are running a coal power plant, and run just enough energy to power a single 100 watt bulb for a whole year, you just emitted .75 TONNES of CO2. For one 100w bulb! Now, 2000 Tonnes for the whole US doesn’t seem all that bad does it?
Yes, there are better power, sorta. Water power – except it affects the wild life. Wind power is super clean and only slightly effects birds and looks ugly. Solar power is very clean, except to make it, then it’s not really all that clean. But at least those 3, and nuclear, don’t generate CO2 while they are operating.
But only nuclear can generate the massive amount of power we need today, for our hungry nations, and doesn’t emit CO2. Its one of the reasons why France is so heavily into Nuclear power. Almost 72% of France’s power comes from nuclear.
It really is a pretty good power source.
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