Finland is on the verge of becoming the first nation to bury spent nuclear fuel rods deep underground for the long term. Erika Benke visits the Onkalo site to find out more.
But it has also remained controversial in many countries due to its high cost and long build times, as well as concerns over the safety of nuclear reactors and the unresolved issue of what to do with nuclear waste.
Still, several countries including the US and UK are building new reactors or upgrading existing ones to increase capacity, while others such as India, China and Russia are planning huge expansions.
Debates remain open about the safety of these plants themselves, but a solution also needs to be found for the huge amounts of spent fuel and radioactive waste being accumulated that remains dangerous to the environment and human health for hundreds of thousands of years.
Maybe it’s because of press pieces like this generating controversy over it. Somehow coal and oil doesn’t have to, and hasn’t ever really had to justify the insane environmental impact they have.
Digging a hole for some spicy rods versus heating up the whole atmosphere to the point several countries will be underwater and Africa will be uninhabitable. Such a dilemma.
The problem with nuclear energy is that so many people are incredibly uninformed about how it works and what the risks and downsides are when compared to fossil fuels, because there’s really no contest: nuclear energy is by far the safest and least polluting form of “steady state” energy production (compared to eg. solar or wind which can’t produce 24/7) we have right now. Plants tend to be – to use a technical term – expensive as all fuck to build, mainly because they absolutely have to be done right to be safe. It’s still nuclear power and the failure modes are way more… uh… interesting than when you’re just burning rocks or sludge made from dead ancient trees.
Maybe it’s because of press pieces like this generating controversy over it. Somehow coal and oil doesn’t have to, and hasn’t ever really had to justify the insane environmental impact they have.
Digging a hole for some spicy rods versus heating up the whole atmosphere to the point several countries will be underwater and Africa will be uninhabitable. Such a dilemma.
The problem with nuclear energy is that so many people are incredibly uninformed about how it works and what the risks and downsides are when compared to fossil fuels, because there’s really no contest: nuclear energy is by far the safest and least polluting form of “steady state” energy production (compared to eg. solar or wind which can’t produce 24/7) we have right now. Plants tend to be – to use a technical term – expensive as all fuck to build, mainly because they absolutely have to be done right to be safe. It’s still nuclear power and the failure modes are way more… uh… interesting than when you’re just burning rocks or sludge made from dead ancient trees.
Edit: in case anyone wants to learn more about spicy rocks, I just thought to post a link to MIT’s Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation course that’s freely available on YouTube in its entirety. It’s been super interesting