Extinction Rebellion #xr UK ex-spokes person:
"For many years I was skeptical of #nuclear power. Surrounded by anti-nuclear activists, I had allowed fear of radiation, nuclear waste and weapons of mass destruction to creep into my subconscious. A friend sent me a scientific paper on the actual impacts, including the (very small number of) total deaths from radiation at Chernobyl and Fukushima, I realised I had been duped into anti-science sentiment all this time."
And the plan for safely storing long term nuclear waste for 100000 plus years is?
"In the United States alone, the Department of Energy states there are "millions of gallons of radioactive waste" as well as "thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel and material" and also "huge quantities of contaminated soil and water.""
Now, if you're so scared about 2000 m3 of nuclear waste that is vitrified and stored in billion-years old geologic formations and quickly losing its activity, I probably shouldn't tell you about *actually* toxic waste that we store underground?
Byproducts of manufacturing of your laptop, router and smartphone is arsenic, cyanide and mercury waste, which is also stored in deep geological repository, except it remains just as toxic in 10, 100, 1000 years.
Have a nice day.
@hhardy01 @kravietz Another very frequently missed important point is:
nuclear power is not only uranium based. This technology was developed with priority because of the plutonium
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_waste#Proliferation_concerns
There are other types of nuclear reactors that produce a lot less radioactive waste. Check the Molten salt reactor (MSR) for example and the related technologies:
https://www.world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/generation-iv-nuclear-reactors.aspx
@kravietz @hhardy01 Also the successor project of ITER is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEMOnstration_Power_Station
But I haven't explored details beyond the Wikipedia page.
@kravietz @hhardy01 They have very impressive videos:
https://www.youtube.com/user/iterorganization
And yes, the engineering and manufacturing scale is mind-blowing👍