Why can’t we dump nuclear waste in the same place we mine nuclear fuel?
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Nuclear engineer here.
When you split atoms, the leftovers are different and extremely more radioactive than uranium.
Uranium from the ground is a very weak radiation emitter. Its only a problem if you eat it. The alpha radiation from uranium can’t penetrate a piece of paper.
Split atoms (fission products) are extremely radioactive. Millions of times more radioactive and can penetrate up to a foot of lead. So putting THAT in the ground is bad.
If we developed the technology, we could separate the unused uranium and put that back in the ground or remix it into new fuel. But the 7% of the nuclear fuel that is waste products needs to be stored still.
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