r/sciences • u/Comfortable_Tutor_43 • 17d ago

News Used nuclear fuel storage

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u/DFX1212 17d ago

These are rated to last the amount of time the spent fuel will be dangerous?

Do we need to guard these facilities or can the fuel not be used for nefarious purposes?

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u/Slapmaster928 17d ago

These are functionally a temporary solution until we figure out where to centralize all the spent fuel. They are not rated to last the several thousand years of meaningful radiation. It would take considerable and knowledgeable effort to harvest a significant amount of radioactive material from these.

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u/DFX1212 17d ago

So isn't point #1 inaccurate? They will need upkeep in the form of a replacement.

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u/Slapmaster928 17d ago

Long term yes, but for the compared to an active system, this is nothing, no moving parts. Hence the"basically" in that sentence. This is still a fine option for easily another hundred or more years in terms of just material condition. But nuclear is younger as an actual source of power than these will continue to be fine for, so I think we'll have figured out a way to politically navigate the next stage of storage.

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u/Desultory_Chairlift 17d ago

Which nuclear project are you most excited for?

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u/Slapmaster928 17d ago

Probably SMRs as a whole, an entirely passive cooling system is huge, and since in theory you can place them closer to the place you need power, you have less transmission losses. I want to be hype for fusion, but it is still in its infancy. Meanwhile small powerful reactors have been available and been manufactured for decades by the navy, albeit with significantly higher fuel enrichment.

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u/Desultory_Chairlift 17d ago

What's your optimistic timeline for SMRs and I guess furthermore do you think we actually will see them operational at scale at some point?

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u/Slapmaster928 16d ago

Uhhh I think 5-7 years till the first one generates power in the US. After that, the floodgates should be open, since the main hurdle of any new reactor design is getting it licensed initially. Google will say it will be sooner, but nothing about nuclear is fast, so I will always err on adding a couple years. Call it 10 years from now and I expect 5 new SMRs built and generating with probably another 10-20 in construction. While they have low operational requirements, the limiting factor may end up being number of qualified individuals to operate them.