Stuff You Should Know What To Do With All This Nuclear Waste?
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Nov 4, 2025 Discover the unsettling reality of nuclear waste management and the convoluted methods we employ to store it. Explore what spent fuel looks like and the surprising amount each person contributes. Uncover the controversial past of Yucca Mountain and Finland's innovative solution with its deep geological repository. Delve into recycling spent fuel's potential to power the U.S. for decades while grappling with associated security concerns. Learn about advanced methods to reduce long-term radioactivity, making the future of nuclear waste management a pressing and fascinating issue.
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Small Volume, Big Problem
- Spent nuclear fuel is solid metal pellets that lose efficiency after years but remain highly radioactive.
- Each U.S. person’s lifetime nuclear waste compresses to roughly a hockey puck worth of material.
Cooling First, Store Later
- Spent fuel moves from reactor cores to deep, water-filled spent fuel pools to cool and prevent criticality.
- Pools hold assemblies for years before transfer into inert-gas-filled dry casks for interim storage.
Dry Casks Are Temporary Fortresses
- Dry casks are heavy sealed steel canisters inside thick specialized concrete designed to absorb heat and radiation.
- They are rated for about 100 years, so earlier casks already approach guaranteed lifetimes.
