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by the_solution 4318 days ago
Yes, I edited the other comment because I felt i needed to add a note for clarity. Sorry if that nuked your response...

Concerning the carbon free issue: That is false advertising and needs to be put in an extremely negative light because it suggests something to the consumer which is not true. How much carbon or emissions a power plant generates under some specific conditions (like in its main operation time) is completely irrelevant to how environmently friendly it is. The complete balance needs to be taken into account, otherwise you end up cheating yourself (or others) into believing you have reduced emissions when overall you haven't.

It's true that standing next to a kg of U238 for a limited amount of time will likely not hurt you much. The same is true for lead for example. That does not mean it is not hazardous! It still needs to be taken care of. Also, it is interesting that you ignored the Pu. I'm not trying to fear-monger. The statement from the article is simply wrong. Nuclear waste has to be taken care of for tens of thousands of years, not hundreds.