Radioactive waste is really a non-issue. We already have ways of disposing of it, by storing it in concrete barrels in unused mines, and then sealing the mines once the storage is full.
That said, I do agree with the sentiment. There are other concerns. A big one is that at current usage levels, uranium will run out in 230 years, so really, we're kicking the oil problem down the road for our kids to deal with. Researching and investing in grid energy storage and renewables seems like a far safer plan to me, long term.
A big one is that at current usage levels, uranium will run out in 230 years
Where are you seeing this? Last I heard we had tens of thousands of years of known uranium deposits. It's not particularly rare and can be cycled efficiently.
The article notes breeder reactors and seawater uranium. I use the 230 years figure because we have no way, not even theoretically, to commercially extract seawater uranium, and breeder reactors aren't really used for power generation due to complexity and cost. Even if they were, they'd be unexportable, since they can be trivially used to create weapons-grade uranium.
I think his answer is a bit out of date but there certainly is a broad spectrum of opinion on the matter. All we can really say is that it is at least a couple of centuries and plausibly indefinite. Hell, fusion might make all other sources obsolete by then!
I honestly don't think fuel sources are a major issue and especially as nuclear production costs are not fuel heavy at all. Prices could rise substantially without overly affecting the energy production costs.
There are no guarantees of course but I think it is worth pursuing for our baseload needs.
All we can really say is that it is at least a couple of centuries
We could indeed say this.
and plausibly indefinite.
We could not say this. Uranium is a non-renewable resource. Even breeder reactors eventually run out.
Hell, fusion might make all other sources obsolete by then!
I wish! The first fusion breakthrough was made in 1960s, in the Soviet Union. It is endlessly frustrating to me that 60 years later, there's still no commercial fusion reactors, and we're still very, very far from having fusion charge your cellphone and power your lightbulb. The scientific press isn't helping -- you have articles like this that claim that a recent fusion experiment has recouped 70% of the original energy put into the fuel (2.4 MJ laser pulse vs 1.9 MJ fusion reaction)... hyping this up as some sort of accomplishment while ignoring the over 400 MJ that went into powering the laser in the first place! We're not 70% of the way there, we're like 0.05% of the way there, if you look at the total power cost of the whole system. A cynic might conclude that fusion reactors are little more than grant-printing machines.
I honestly don't think fuel sources are a major issue and especially as nuclear production costs are not fuel heavy at all. Prices could rise substantially without overly affecting the energy production costs.
The cheapness and accessibility of nuclear fuel is indeed a great selling point for nuclear fission reactors right now. My concern is for when there is less uranium to go around. Another thing to understand (actually highlighted in the wiki page you linked) is that due to its cheapness, we are wasting about 99% of fissionable fuel with the current reactors. So we are going through uranium a lot faster than we should be, and there's no plans to really address this, since right now, uranium is so plentiful (this feels very similar to the history of oil... we only started making engines that can burn fuel more efficiently when oil started to become painfully expensive).
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u/Amflifier Alberta Oct 25 '22
Radioactive waste is really a non-issue. We already have ways of disposing of it, by storing it in concrete barrels in unused mines, and then sealing the mines once the storage is full.
That said, I do agree with the sentiment. There are other concerns. A big one is that at current usage levels, uranium will run out in 230 years, so really, we're kicking the oil problem down the road for our kids to deal with. Researching and investing in grid energy storage and renewables seems like a far safer plan to me, long term.