{"id":32833,"date":"2025-04-19T11:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T11:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32833\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T11:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T11:38:14","slug":"its-just-unbelievable-how-weve-gotten-to-this-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32833\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s just unbelievable how we’ve gotten to this point’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Half an Olympic-size swimming pool’s worth of nuclear waste is\u2026not as bad as it sounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That’s according to North Carolina State University associate professor Robert B. Hayes, who poked holes<\/a> in misconceptions about spent nuclear fuel on TikTok after being asked how much radioactive waste is produced each year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

@nuclearsciencelover<\/a> #onthisday<\/a> #nuclear<\/a> #waste<\/a> #spentfuel<\/a> #nuclearwaste<\/a> #uranium<\/a> \u266c original sound – I love science!<\/a> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It turns out that unfounded fears can be toxic in their own right, according to Hayes<\/a>, who teaches nuclear engineering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s just unbelievable how we’ve gotten to this point, where the truth about nuclear is so fantastically opposed,” Hayes said in the clip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The swimming pool visualization is the U.S. Department of Energy’s descriptor<\/a>, representing more than 2,204 tons. Hayes said America doesn’t make enough nuclear waste to cover a football field with 32 feet, or 10 meters, of the substance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“It’s just such a small amount of material,” Hayes said in the clip.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The waste comes in the form of small ceramic pellets, not green ooze seeping from drums and spawning strange creatures<\/a>. It’s in fact the byproduct of energy generation from 54<\/a> plants that account for nearly 20% of the country’s power supply \u2014\u00a0a stable, air pollution-free energy source in service for about a half century. The waste is stored at 70 sites around the country, without a leak in 55 years, according to the DOE<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the spent fuel is recycled<\/a> \u2014 the U.S. doesn’t reuse it yet \u2014 more than 90% of it could still generate power, per the government fact sheet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nuclear energy remains a taboo subject for many Americans, likely because of the haunting wastelands left at Chernobyl<\/a> and the few other meltdown sites around the world. The fallout<\/a> at those locations lasts for decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A recent effort from Microsoft<\/a> to reopen part of Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, the site of a nuclear accident<\/a> in 1979, drew activist actress Jane Fonda<\/a>‘s ire<\/a>. And physicist Amory Lovins, co-founder of Colorado energy think tank RMI, told The Cool Down that sun and wind energy is more affordable to develop for grid demand than nuclear power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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But its abundance and smog-free operations are appealing. Microsoft intends to use the atomic energy source to help power electricity-gobbling<\/a> data centers, according<\/a> to Reuters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Efforts are underway to reuse<\/a> the waste, too. Government experts are even planning to extract nuclear matter from unused warheads for power production. That’s not to mention the ongoing fusion<\/a> research making progress<\/a> around the world, which would feature no long-lasting<\/a> atomic waste if successfully developed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hayes said in the clip that the right recycling strategy can provide far more nuclear power than is needed. Wide-scale use could alleviate growing risks<\/a> of severe weather, among myriad environmental and health concerns from planet-warming dirty-fuel-based plants, according to NASA and other experts<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And yet people are terrified of it,” Hayes said<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To better use the electricity already coming to your home, be sure to unplug so-called energy vampires<\/a> at night. These unused chargers and devices can burn more than $100 worth of power a year, representing wasted energy and unnecessary pollution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Join our free newsletter<\/a> for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives<\/strong> and shaping our future<\/strong>, and don’t miss this cool list<\/a> of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.<\/p>\n

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