
Statistically speaking, nuclear energy is relatively safe per kilowatt-hour. But it’s also the only energy source with a non-zero risk of catastrophic failure and waste that stays toxic for thousands of years.
Thanks. I’ll take wind and solar instead. Wake me up when all this is somehow cleaned up.
As of December 2024, there were over 315,000 bundles of spent nuclear fuel rods in the U.S., and over 3,800 dry storage casks in concrete vaults above ground, located at current and former power plants across the country.
Even reactors that have been decommissioned and demolished still have concrete vaults storing radioactive waste, which must be secured and maintained by the power company that owned the nuclear plant.
I actually care about all the waste generated by all industries. I’m just particulary concerned with waste that will remain toxic for 1,000s of years. As for storing it all in “solid geological storage”, yeah, good luck with that. That’s been the dream since 1982 when Yucca mountain was chosen as the site for the nation’s nuclear waste. But that wasn’t stopped by nimbies, it was stopped by the state of Utah and many other states. Nobody wants train or truck loads of toxic nuclear waste shipped across their state for some reason. I can’t imagine why…
You may be in luck though. A private company in West Texas, Interim Storage Partners, has agreed to start taking in that waste. Except that the state of Texas has said fuck no to that. Luckily for you, SCOTUS will be hearing the case in October according to this article. Knowing the current SCOTUS, I’m sure that we will all be wondering when and the first train or truck load of nuclear waste will get dumped, because it’s not a matter of if.