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EU court rules nuclear energy is clean energy

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1041 points mpweiher | 2 comments | 12 Sep 25 18:18 UTC | HN request time: 0.517s | source
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cramcgrab[dead post] ◴[12 Sep 25 18:37 UTC] No.45225173[source]▶
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kulahan ◴[12 Sep 25 18:37 UTC] No.45225185[source]▶
It's not. Not only is it a completely negligible amount (~one 50-gallon barrel per reactor per year), it's easy to store (literally kitty litter) and can be re-enriched (renewable).
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1. daemonologist ◴[12 Sep 25 19:10 UTC] No.45225528[source]▶
Okay, not all of this is accurate. I am not against nuclear (although in recent years it has not been very cost effective), but here are some figures with citations:

- The U.S. generates about 2,000 metric tons of spent fuel each year (from 94 reactors/97 GW) : https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/5-fast-facts-about-spent-... . For the whole world it's 7,000 tons (375-400 GW) : https://www.iaea.org/publications/14739/status-and-trends-in...

- Storing it is easy in the short term, but unfortunately any leaks are a big deal and you have to store it basically forever, which is a challenge. If Yucca Mountain were to be restarted it's estimated storing existing and new waste through 2031 there would cost in the neighborhood of $100 billion : (warning: large PDF) https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-21-603.pdf

- It's possible to recycle the fuel, but currently an order of magnitude more expensive than digging up more : https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/economics-reprocess...

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2. kulahan ◴[12 Sep 25 19:23 UTC] No.45225669[source]▶
I had no idea I was off by so much with respect to waste, thanks - that's important to know. Still seems like a fairly good trade though - 7000 tons for ~400GW.

You're definitely right about long-term storage being a concern; I think only one long-term storage facility exists right now.

I believe the cost of recycling fuel is largely because it's completely unexplored. I'm sure it'll follow a similar cost reduction path most industries share.