The UK's nuclear waste problem
theweek.com
Safety concerns as 'highly radioactive' material could be buried in the English countryside

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“Not in my backyard” is a term normally used in conversations about proposed new housing or rail lines, but a version of it could soon be heard about one of the most dangerous materials on the planet.

[…]

Sellafield, in Cumbria, is the “temporary home to the vast majority of the UK’s radioactive nuclear waste”, said the BBC, “as well as the world’s largest stockpile of plutonium”. It’s stuck there because no long-term, high-level waste facilities have been created to deal with it.

The “highly radioactive material” releases energy that can infiltrate and damage the cells in our bodies, Claire Corkhill, professor of radioactive waste management at the University of Bristol, said, and “it remains hazardous for 100,000 years”.

The permanent plan to handle the waste currently at Sellafield is to first build a designated 650ft-deep pit to store it. Although the contentious matter of its location has yet to be agreed, the facility will hold some of the 5 million tonnes of waste generated by nuclear power stations over the past seven decades. Then, in the second half of the century, a much deeper geological disposal site will be dug, which will hold the UK’s “most dangerous waste”, such as plutonium.

[…]

  • federal reverseMEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Sure we are reusing some of it nowadays, but we still have tons globally that need to go somewhere

    At this point in time, nuclear “recycling” is a grift. The French nuclear recycling industry in particular is basically just a France-Siberia import/export business.

    • shapesandstuffEnglish
      3·
      2 months ago

      Oh i didn’t even know about that. Do you have a link handy?

      Also upon looking it up a bit, even if we recycle some, it seems like a potentially very nasty process aaaand we still end up with a lot of waste.

      I had been doubting my scepticism lately but nuclear simply isn’t the silver bullet it’s getting peddled as.

      • federal reverseMEnglish
        2·
        2 months ago

        Sorry for the belated response. I am pretty sure I saw it in a Arte documentary some time ago. I don’t think I have a link and I don’t know if it’s translated in a language you speak (though Arte usually have French/German audio and English subtitles).

        I can only lead you to the Wikipedia articles for Orano (the company) and MOX (the recycling material), but they don’t quite go into weird details that the documentary went into.