Including all nuclear power plant disasters, it still has far fewer deaths per gigawatt hour compared to everything except large scale solar installations (not personal rooftop solar, which is much higher due to falls). It’s the money, not the safety, that’s the problem.
Safety per gigawatt hour sounds like it doesn’t take into account what we do with all the radioactive waste of which there’d be much more of if nuclear power was scaled up drastically.
Could do with some more, especially more modern versions with less waste product and more efficient generation.
All nuclear waste ever produced could be safely stored in less than a square mile (Plus a radius around that to prevent idiots tampering with it). The safety issues of it are greatly over exaggerated most of the time. The problem with that, is that storing nuclear waste safely is relatively (though not extremely) expensive.
Additionaly, almost everyone likes to take a NIMBY stance on storing nuclear waste. As a result, US power plants tend to store all of their nuclear waste on site, since they have no place else to go with it. So, because the public and politicians won’t accept the realities of the situation, nuclear waste is currently being stored in lots of our “back yards.”
Edit: The United States does not currently have a long term waste storage facility or a plan for one. Yucca Mountain, a little over an hour outside of Las Vegas, right by the Nevada Test Site, was proposed as a possible storage location in the 1980’s but ran into fierce objections from locals and the state of Nevada. Unfortunate, as it’s remote location actually makes it pretty ideal.
Technically yes, but practically no for the first question. Properly stored nuclear waste has very minimal radiation leakage.
As for the second, it’s complicated. The actual amount of radioactive waste is less than 10,000 cubic meters. There’s quite a bit more than that of just water that has become toxic due to radiation, but the storage requirements of that are much lower. Here’s a rough infographic: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-all-the-nuclear-waste-in-the-world/
Also, while The low level waste would still fit in a single square mile if you were restricted to that, using natural caves is a lot cheaper and easier than building tanks, so it’s not exactly a realistic solution.
How do you know that? There are no reliable figures on the Chernobyl deaths because there was and is a massive ongoing cover-up. Same goes for Fukushima, Windscale and whatever the Soviets managed to sweep under the rug. Until you come up with some actually reliable figures, I suggest you stop repeating this obvious propaganda talking point
Including all nuclear power plant disasters, it still has far fewer deaths per gigawatt hour compared to everything except large scale solar installations (not personal rooftop solar, which is much higher due to falls). It’s the money, not the safety, that’s the problem.
Safety per gigawatt hour sounds like it doesn’t take into account what we do with all the radioactive waste of which there’d be much more of if nuclear power was scaled up drastically.
Could do with some more, especially more modern versions with less waste product and more efficient generation.
Could do with more solar, too.
But as you say… The Money™.
All nuclear waste ever produced could be safely stored in less than a square mile (Plus a radius around that to prevent idiots tampering with it). The safety issues of it are greatly over exaggerated most of the time. The problem with that, is that storing nuclear waste safely is relatively (though not extremely) expensive.
Additionaly, almost everyone likes to take a NIMBY stance on storing nuclear waste. As a result, US power plants tend to store all of their nuclear waste on site, since they have no place else to go with it. So, because the public and politicians won’t accept the realities of the situation, nuclear waste is currently being stored in lots of our “back yards.”
Edit: The United States does not currently have a long term waste storage facility or a plan for one. Yucca Mountain, a little over an hour outside of Las Vegas, right by the Nevada Test Site, was proposed as a possible storage location in the 1980’s but ran into fierce objections from locals and the state of Nevada. Unfortunate, as it’s remote location actually makes it pretty ideal.
Doesn’t increasing the concentration of nuclear waste make it’s effects much more dangerous?
And sorry to pick for more info, but what’s the volume of waste in that one square mile?
Technically yes, but practically no for the first question. Properly stored nuclear waste has very minimal radiation leakage.
As for the second, it’s complicated. The actual amount of radioactive waste is less than 10,000 cubic meters. There’s quite a bit more than that of just water that has become toxic due to radiation, but the storage requirements of that are much lower. Here’s a rough infographic: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-all-the-nuclear-waste-in-the-world/
Also, while The low level waste would still fit in a single square mile if you were restricted to that, using natural caves is a lot cheaper and easier than building tanks, so it’s not exactly a realistic solution.
Thanks for the detailed reply.
So basically it’s as safe as you trust the fail rate to be. Which isn’t super risky, provided you can trust your construction.
How do you know that? There are no reliable figures on the Chernobyl deaths because there was and is a massive ongoing cover-up. Same goes for Fukushima, Windscale and whatever the Soviets managed to sweep under the rug. Until you come up with some actually reliable figures, I suggest you stop repeating this obvious propaganda talking point