TLDR Open discussion about Nuclear Waste potential.

I don’t want to pretend that I know about spent nuclear fuel and the environment. I am possibly smart enough to know that it doesn’t glow bright green in metal 55 gallon drums beside a river.

However, I revisited an old JRE podcast with some expert that said that spent nuclear fuel is not an option for recycling into other fuels. He was almost flippant with Joe saying that it is impossible to use the ’28 Olympic Swimming Pools of Spent Fuel” to be broken down into something useful like alternative energy.
• Like I said, I’m not an expert and took to…..ChatGPT. Where else?

It seems that you CAN break down American spent fuel. France has “Fast Reactors” and maybe salt reactors (I don’t know what those are) that use derivatives of spent fuel. It all sits out in deserts somewhere and all separately. Politics and local mandates have refused ALL of the fuel in one place. But in this country, there 28 pools of potential energy sitting there.

The good news, I read it doesn’t expire. It can be reached at any time but I am not sure why we haven’t used it sans the fact that it’s more expensive and uranium from the ground is still cheaper to mine.

But let’s say the proposed super data centers that will have their own reactors use up a lot of uranium and new administrations permit more and more conventional light water reactors for power. That means that the 28 pools could some day be 56 pools and then we have an opportunity. Enough to power a lot of alternative nuclear fuel plants.

These plants would achieve:
• Burn plutonium
• Burn long-lived actinides
• Reduce waste lifetime from ~100,000 years to a few hundred years
To me, it makes too much sense, but again, the good news, it doesn’t expire and I can see where we are waiting for:
1. Enough to really make a difference and not run out of the spent fuel. Because you have to burn uranium the old way to get this stuff.
2. Better technology to make it safer and cheaper to extract and develop

It comes down to what is economically feasible and good ways to get rid of nuclear waste.
We COULD sell the fuel to France and Russia. But Chat says that there are some hold backs for that.
1. Shipping is costly and dangerous.
2. Europe will use the fuel but then must send the waste back to us. In this case, the waste of the waste comes back. But less of it. SO ICan see where we want to just keep it until we want to use it.
3. Nuclear weapons can be made of the plutonium and France is starting to “demographically” change to where they could store it for decade and then a new leader could use it against us/allies. So a valid reason. Right?


Anyone that knows more than me, want to chime in on this? Feel Free to.