Nuclear Energy
Safe Disposal of Nuclear Waste
Storage ponds are pools that are made of thick reinforced concrete lined with steel. These are used to hold used fuel when it comes straight out of the reactor, letting it cool and decay for long enough to where it can be sent somewhere else. Sometimes, the fuel is kept in the ponds for the entirety of the lifetime of the reactor.
Dry casks are usually the next step after storage ponds, it is a large concrete pod that protects the used fuel from the outside and protects the outside from the used fuel. These usually have air circulation to increase the amount of time that they last. Around 1/3 of spent nuclear fuel in the United States is kept in dry casks.
Geological Repositories are the most favored solution to nuclear waste. Geological repositories are underground storage units that are designed to permanently contain waste inside of the earth. These repositories can be created in old mine shafts, which can reduce the time and cost it takes to construct these.
Storage Ponds
Dry Casks
Geological Repositories
Reprocessing is a complicated method of separating nuclear fuel from radioactive waste. This newly separated fuel can be reused to fuel reactors, though with current technology can only be reprocessed once. After reprocessing, some highly radioactive waste is left over that still needs to be disposed of.
Reprocessing
