Re:A tale of two particles: Not all radioactivity is risky o...
by pdonis on Tuesday December 06, 2022 @10:06PM
(#33890178)
> The difficulty of nuclear storage is not guarding highly radioactive stuff the first 100 years. It's the medium and low radioactive stuff that you need to keep out of the water and air the next 10,000.
You don't have to deal with the latter if you reprocess the "waste". Which, well before 10,000 years, you're going to do anyway, because on that time scale there will be significant economic value in retrieving usable fuel from it. The only reason reprocessing is not done now in the US is politics; other countries have been doing it for decades with no problems. And as it gets more expensive to mine more fuel, reprocessing becomes more and more of an economic advantage.
You don't have to deal with the latter if you reprocess the "waste". Which, well before 10,000 years, you're going to do anyway, because on that time scale there will be significant economic value in retrieving usable fuel from it. The only reason reprocessing is not done now in the US is politics; other countries have been doing it for decades with no problems. And as it gets more expensive to mine more fuel, reprocessing becomes more and more of an economic advantage.