Why can’t we dump nuclear waste in the same place we mine nuclear fuel?
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The problem with nuclear storage in America is we got about 60% of the way there in Nevada (Yucca Mountain) for a consolidated national site in an old mine that was pretty close to ready to reuse for this sort of thing but the political will died out and politicians killed it for “environmental concerns”. No one wants to fund a different site because the one in Nevada is clearly the better choice and would be much faster to get setup. Imo the feds should just force the issue and reverse course on Yucca with a big new nuclear push to decarbonize – or look into the new drilling disposal methods they’re using in north Europe nowadays.
Fun fact the vast majority of nuclear waste is irradiated tools and gear, not depleted uranium.
Shipping… why can we have a nice centralized hole not all that unsimilar to a mine in a theoretical place called Yucca Mountain? Climate terrorists.
We could, but there is already better options, we store most nuclear waste on-site buried and encased in concrete among other things.
Nuclear waste disposal is a non-issue nowadays which people still harp on because of oil and gas funded propaganda.
Dumping nuclear waste isn’t a huge issue. There are lots if places and ways to store it. It just needs to be done carefully and have a well thought out plan.
One of my favorites is the mountain they build in the Nevada desert.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain_nuclear_waste_repository
Politically it is an issue since no states want you to even bring your nuclear state across their state lines. It should be federally controlled to avoid this red tape.
They’ve been working on the Hanford Waste Treatment Plant (WTP), aka the “vit” plant, for the last 20 years. It will turn stored underground tank waste on the Hanford Nuclear Reservation into glass through a vitrification process. *Supposedly* it will be operational next year, but I’m not holding my breath.
What about that ocean thing? It’s pretty big right?
Popular YouTube named Kyle Hill dives into this and how we can actually properly dispose of nuclear waste. https://youtu.be/J3znG6_vla0
It would make more sense to have 2 sites — one in the Rockies and one in the Appalachians.
That way, you would never have to ship anything more than halfway across the country.
Same reason you don’t poop where you eat – what went in (the reactor) is a lot different in look, feel and smell than what came out (the ground).
EDIT: New clear fuel,when originally mined, is at a steady state and live harmoniously with many other metals and minerals. Olympic dam is Australia for example, has uranium with 3 other metals (Gold, Copper, Iron ore). The fuel uranium has been turned from uranium ore into yellow cake, followed by lots of other refinements, so its fundamentally very different.
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