What Happens to Nuclear Waste? | BBC Earth Science

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[disorganizedorg]

We shouldn't make it unrecoverable. A hundred years from now it's quite possible we'll have invented methods of either destroying the waste (eg, in a Thorium fuel cycle reactor) or actually find value in some of the waste components... like coal tar used to be dumped into the Thames but later became an important industrial starting point, especially pharmaceuticals and other organic chemicals.

[Henchman_Holding_Wrench]

The public reaction to careful disposal is really dumb. Shutting down disposal sites and letting everything sit indefinitely out in the open instead. Great work. Really saving the planet there.

[santtilagmailcom]

Finland should make a business out of burying other counties' nuclear waste, since the ground in Finland is optimal for that. There could even be a slogan: "Finland, the nuclear waste land".

[stevenreynolds]

I have been contracted out to one of these disposal facilities to handle their ventilation control for the past few years. It's a neat process and they at least take safety pretty serious.

[sacredcz]

Maybe continue in developing the nuclear reprocessing technology? Not stopping it because politics...

[Tazer_Silverscar]

Why is it even waste? Surely if it's still chucking out radiation in the form of excess electrons, then it's still usable as fuel? Sure, it's not as efficient, but it's still doing the same job we need it for. Couldn't we just use it to power reactors that have a lower power yield?

[fueledbyregret]

I find it odd that this video didn’t talk about 4th Gen breeder reactors that will be able to use waste from previous generation reactors as fuel. With that in mind it seems irresponsible to scuttle possible fuel away in concrete filled bunkers.

[MikeSnap]

How about harnessing the energy that it makes?

[SmartGuy]

Today's waste is tomorrow's fuel.

[Chriswsm]

Has BBC Earth Lab considered doing videos on other types of extreme waste from power generation?
Such as the radioactive waste left behind after burning coal.
The toxic waste left after mining for rare earth elements such as those required for neodymium magnets & solar panels.
there are very few ways of generating power that do not have consequences. Perhaps a video that explains all of these consequences so people will come to understand that what they think is Green electricity is not necessarily the case.

[Val_Kei]

It's not just Finland, Sweden has a huge waste disposal facility, where it keeps nuclear waste from half of Europe, including UK, Finland was just first to come up with such solution.

[blockbertus]

Hi Greg! Greetings from Austria! Have a nice weekend.
I enjoyed your video as usual. :)

[pitma]

Well finding an underground bunker with tons of nuclear waste is like “the mummy” movie of the future 🤣

[paule]

We have in finland olkiluoto's "cave" where we put them for long term storage and fill it with concrete

[LFTRnow]

Normally I like these videos, but for the most part they just fuel the fear that we will be generating endless waste. The reality is the amount of "waste" is currently tiny, and after it is removed from the cooling ponds, it is not particularly radioactive anymore. There is some long lived plutonium however (half life ~24k years) and that is what gets people freaked out (and why he said 1/4 M years, because after 10 half-lives it is roughly gone. However, that plutonium AND the remaining uranium is a FUEL. It can't be used in the inefficient reactors we have today, but new technology is being developed to use it commercially. Look up MSR and Gen IV reactors. Perhaps you can do an update to this video after you learn about these items. Nuclear energy is by far humanities best solution to energy generation and abundance.

[TheRealPiman]

I know its alot to mention in this video but can you weight in on the difernces between Uranium and Theorium power plants?

[wasinAlpha]

I thought we were making progress in learning how to use that nuclear waste for energy...

[fireaza]

We should invest in some of some of those bins from from Subnautica! Just toss the spent radioactive rods into them and they're gone!

[shadfurman]

Disappointed you didn't talk about using it for power generation.

I know, it's not quite ready yet, but thorium and traveling wave reactors seem to be on the verge of functionality, dozens of companies are working on them and a lot of money is being invested. If I understand correctly, it's likely possible to use spent fuel in these types of reactors.

[MiddKnightAlphaOmega]

Re-utilize the waste for use in radio-isotope thermoelectric generators. The long half-lifes of the discarded material would make RTGs the most efficient batteries we can make. And there is sufficient material for a single RTG compound (city block sized) to continue providing power for years/decades beyond the shutdown of a Nuclear power plant.