So the depleted nuclear fuel cannot be used to heat the reactor, but still has plenty of energy in the form of radiation. Why this radiation cannot be used or eliminated by trapping the neutrons from it and produce heat?
In: Physics
If you are talking about recycling and using spent nuclear fuel, that is already done in other countries, France in particular has a pretty effective program. As for the US, the practice never got a foothold because the US government claimed that further investment into nuclear energy and recycling would not only fuel reactors, but it would accelerate nuclear proliferation as well. This stance was taken during the height of the cold war and its effects in the US and nuclear energy will persists today. As expected, novnuclear materials ever have been recycled from a nuclear power plants spent fuel, and now there’s a substantial cost in doing so. Why? We, ourselves, don’t quite have the technical ability and staff to do so effectively and efficiently, will need alot of help, and don’t have the experienced professionals we’ll need to navigate the effective oversight of local and national governments or the International Atomic Energy Agency,
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