Small nuclear power projects may have big waste problems -study

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A planned new generation of small nuclear reactors will create more waste than conventional reactors, while treatments to make some types of waste safe could be exploited by militants trying to obtain fissile materials, a study published on Tuesday said.

The projects, called small modular reactors , are designed to be simpler and safer than conventional plants in the case of accident. They are also expected to be built in factories as opposed to today's massive light-water reactors that are built on site and typically run billions of dollars over budget.

Allison Macfarlane, a co-author of the study and former head of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said SMR designers "don't pay that much attention in general to the waste ... because the thing that makes money for them is the reactor." The United States has no plan to permanently store long lasting, toxic nuclear waste, after Washington stopped funding the Yucca Mountain waste site in Nevada. Instead, the waste, which the industry calls spent nuclear fuel, mostly sits at nuclear plants in pools and later in dry casks made of steel and concrete.

Diane Hughes, a NuScale spokesperson, said the study used outdated design information and incorrect assumptions about the plants.that plan to use fuels and coolants different than traditional reactors are also expected to create more waste per unit of energy, the study said. Those reactors would likely require additional procedures known as conditioning which offer pathways to proliferation, it said.

 

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NuclearWaste 🛑 Seventy years after U.K. began extracting plutonium from spent uranium fuel to make NuclearWeapons, it’s calling a halt to reprocessing, LEAVING 120 TONS OF PLUTONIUM, the biggest stockpile in the world, with no idea what to do with it!

🛑 Storage of NuclearWaste a 'global crisis': report NuclearPower NuclearEnergy 🛑THE WORLD NUCLEAR WASTE REPORT 2019 NuclearWaste is growing worldwide. No real solution for nuclear waste disposal

Can Nuclear Power Be The Solution?

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