[cctt23]

And if we’re willing to deal with that waste, then we already have a viable source of atomic energy from fission! The future is whenever we decide to deal with the problem instead of leaving it pools or casks to solve itself.

@csallen: Be willing to actually dispose of it. We need to commit the money and political will to set up a single disposal site. Right now it’s a NIMBY nightmare so we get the worst outcome.

[csallen]

Curious what you mean by "deal with" it. Somehow make it non-radioactive, or improve our disposal techniques, or what?

[pasabagi]

I think the tradition is to dump it off the coast of Somalia.

[arcticbull]

My thinking is more around using thorium cycle nuclear reactors which consume almost all their input material [1].

1T of thorium produces the same amount of energy as 35T of uranium or 4166000T of coal. 83% of the waste products are inert, and 17% require only 300 years to reach background levels of radiation. Much safer than uranium cycle too.

This technology is very promising IMO, though given the general attitude people have towards nuclear, it's not surprising it is underdeveloped, more research is needed.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liquid_fluoride_thorium_reacto...