Shane and Rod talk about nuclear fuel recycling and ways to reduce the amount of waste that nuclear reactors produce. We also talk about the fact that there are rare materials with unique physical properties locked inside the fuel assemblies that have been removed from nuclear fission reactors. With a proper eye towards converting trash into treasure, I propose that this material should not be considered to be “waste”.
We then chat a bit about some of the ways that nuclear fuel byproducts can be used for human benefit. We also talk about the focused effort to keep nuclear fuel materials out of the world’s economy and handicap its ability to compete with fossil fuels.
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The idea of a nuclear based economy ie, reuse, recycle is a great one but everything involved with nukes becomes contaminated and so waste is a reality. until a viable way of disposing of existing waste is realized the public will continue work against the nuclear industry and as long as votes can be gained this way politicians will arise to stifle progress. The yucca mountain project is the best example, although carbon monoxide poising has killed more people than atomic weapons the public will continue to view fossil fuels as friendly (the fool you know is better than the knave you don’t)
Chris:
There are ways to keep contamination under control so that the total amount of material that needs special control is minimized and relatively easy to handle. Many of those processes are in use today, though it took some time and experience with the technology before they were fully implemented. (In other words, I acknowledge that there have been problems in the past, but there are far fewer problems today even with more widespread use of nuclear power.)
I do not think that the opposition to nuclear power is as deeply embedded in the population as you do. After many years of conversations with people all over the US, my impression is that most people are cautious, but open to reasonable information. There are very focused, reasonably well organized groups that oppose nuclear power as one of their main goals, and I kind of expect that to continue. The main thing to understand about opposition to nuclear power, however, is that a major portion of those opposition groups get their funding – either directly or indirectly – from people and organizations that are financially threatened by competition from nuclear power.
Oil, coal and gas industries, the transportation sector that moves that massive material and the governments that obtain significant portions of their budgets from royalties or taxes on petroleum all know that increased used of nuclear power means decreased use of their product. Once the public begins to understand that, they will be able to put the comments of many organized opposition groups into context and realize just how many benefits nuclear power has for their own prosperity.
The fossil fuel industry and its supporters are powerful, but there are a heck of a lot more energy consumers than there are energy producers in the world.