Originally Posted by ShutdownCorner
Nuclear is horrible. San anofre plant out here has a real possibility of leaking into the ocean and ruining the entire coastline for Human habitation. For a few years of profit, we have all that waste to watch over for thousands of years. The private companies take the profits and tax payers pay for clean up.
Nuclear is an amazing technology and by far the most efficient method for generating electricity.
Now, what do you think is going to leak out of San Anofre? The cooling pond water? Water from one of the cooling loops?
The term "waste" when used in conjunction with fuel that has come out of the reactor is a misnomer. This product is no more waste than unrefined crude. It has massive amounts of power generating potential left in it, which is why France actively reprocesses these used fuel bundles from reactors all over Europe and even Japan. Depleted Uranium can as well be used in the fabrication of fuel bundles.
The US has, intentionally, NOT pursued a reprocessing program. That's a CHOICE. That's not at the feet of the technology, but rather your government. Also, the majority of US nuclear facilities CHOOSE to store all their used fuel, from their entire life of operation, in the onsite cooling ponds, rather than transferring this product into dry cask storage, which is what Canada, and the rest of the world does. Remember, a nuke does not produce a lot of this, which is why they are able to store decades upon decades of it in the cooling bays on-site.
Dry cask storage is incredibly safe and requires no special handling, just periodic inspection. It's also a great intermediate measure until 4th gen reactors that can run on existing waste, without the need for reprocessing, become common.
This is what Dry Cask storage in Canada looks like: