No Result
View All Result
SUBMIT YOUR ARTICLES
  • Login
Wednesday, October 29, 2025
TheAdviserMagazine.com
  • Home
  • Financial Planning
    • Financial Planning
    • Personal Finance
  • Market Research
    • Business
    • Investing
    • Money
    • Economy
    • Markets
    • Stocks
    • Trading
  • 401k Plans
  • College
  • IRS & Taxes
  • Estate Plans
  • Social Security
  • Medicare
  • Legal
  • Home
  • Financial Planning
    • Financial Planning
    • Personal Finance
  • Market Research
    • Business
    • Investing
    • Money
    • Economy
    • Markets
    • Stocks
    • Trading
  • 401k Plans
  • College
  • IRS & Taxes
  • Estate Plans
  • Social Security
  • Medicare
  • Legal
No Result
View All Result
TheAdviserMagazine.com
No Result
View All Result
Home Market Research Economy

Hoisted from Comments: “Nuclear Waste Is a Myth the US Promoted….”

by TheAdviserMagazine
1 month ago
in Economy
Reading Time: 5 mins read
A A
Hoisted from Comments: “Nuclear Waste Is a Myth the US Promoted….”
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LInkedIn


Yves here. In Friday’s Links, reader Michaelmas made some important observations about the US nuclear fuel model, which does only one cycle and thus produces vastly more waste than necessary. That has been a feature as opposed to a bug. Further, he contends that reprocessing plus current technology like laser isotope separation can eliminate nuclear waste.

Admittedly, nuclear waste is not the only reason environmentalists oppose nuclear energy. They also point to catastrophe risk and hazards to wildlife from water cooling processes, which are more pronounced for nuclear plants than other water-cooled power facilities.

As many of you know, as AI and data center power demands are soaring, tech titans have been talking up nuclear power as a low-emission solution. However, a Goldman Sachs report from January argued its role would be limited, in part due to staffing issues:

While renewables have the potential to meet most of the increased power needs from data centers at some times of day, they don’t produce power consistently enough to be the only energy source for data centers….

Nuclear energy has almost zero carbon dioxide emissions — although it does create nuclear waste that needs to be managed carefully. But the scarcity of specialized labor, the challenges of obtaining permits, and the difficulty of sourcing sufficient uranium all pose a challenge to the development of new nuclear power plants…

How much will nuclear power increase?

Recent contracts for nuclear energy facilities along with signs of countries’ greater appetite for nuclear power suggest a significant increase of investment in the next five years, and a corresponding rise in power supply in the 2030s.

The proliferation of AI data centers has boosted investor confidence in future growth in electricity demand at the same time as big tech companies are looking for low-carbon reliable energy. This is leading to the de-mothballing of recently retired nuclear generators, as well as consideration for new larger-scale reactors.

In the US alone, big tech companies have signed new contracts for more than 10 GW of possible new nuclear capacity in the last year, and Goldman Sachs Research sees potential for three plants to be brought online by 2030.

What could help dispel US nuclear dependence on Russia for enrichment is a properly capable nuclear power industry that recycles nuclear fuel and is moving towards closing the nuclear fuel cycle.

Mind you, yours truly has repeatedly called for radical conservation, as in greatly trying to reduce resource consumption, before climate-change-induced collapse forces it upon us. But that view has an even smaller audience now than Before AI.

So one reason to discuss the fact that nuclear waste is a choice, not a necessity, is to try to persuade activists to demand nuclear waste-free new builds. If they can’t stop them, and the political winds suggest not, the fallback is to demand a much safer implementation.

Now to the discussion by Michaelmas, in Links 9/12/2025. I’ve combined two comments:

Nuclear waste is a myth that the US promoted to justify its crappy once-through fuel cycle model, which it set up entirely for political and economic reasons. So when various folks here complain that they don’t like nuclear power because ‘we don’t know how to get rid of the waste,’ they’re ignorantly repeating propaganda that the likes of the CIA have promoted.

We DO know how to ‘get rid of the waste.’ Talk to anybody in the nuclear industry. If they’re honest, they’ll tell you the reason nobody’s ever solved the problem of how to bury that ‘waste’ deep enough so it won’t be a problem for several centuries or millenia is that nobody who knows anything realistically expects that ‘waste’ to stay in the ground because people will probably use it for fuel in the next one or two centuries.

Because it’s barely-used fuel. In the US once-through nuclear fuel cycle, merely 3% to 5% of the original uranium fuel’s total energy content is extracted and used in the reactor before the fuel is discarded. Specifically, Uranium-235, the fissile isotope, comprises only about 0.7% of natural uranium, and enrichment boosts this to 3–5% for reactor use. After fission, a significant amount of U-238 remains.

This isotope could be converted into plutonium-239 and reused in breeder or reprocessing cycles—but in the US once-through model, it’s discarded. So are other actinides formed during operation that also retain substantial energy potential, but aren’t tapped unless reprocessing is done.

In closed or advanced fuel cycles (e.g. MOX fuel, fast reactors), reprocessing raises total energy extraction to 60–90%, depending on the technology and number of recycles. Furthermore, with 21st century technology like laser isotope separation (LIS) —https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/chemistry/laser-isotope-separationthe remainder that can’t be reprocessed for fuel can be transmuted. There’s no need for any ‘nuclear waste’ to exist.

Why does the US nuclear industry have its crappy nuclear power model? This is due to: –

[1.] The mid-20th century historical contingency that Admiral Rickover’s nuclear submarine program developed the boiling water reactor model first and this military application was then ported over to civilian application, and the US has been incapable of moving on from this 75-year old technology;

[2.] As always, the US government placed profitability for US corporations first, and discarding barely-used fuel as so-called waste without recycling seemingly promised greater profits for US energy corporations;

[3.] The US wanted to maintain its nuclear hegemony as much as possible and be able to threaten other states who didn’t have nuclear weapons, and reprocessing technologies are dual use — they’re nuclear enrichment technologies, too.

If you’ll recall, in the 1970s and 80s the US beef with the French nuclear power industry industry was essentially that it did reprocessing and the US beef with the Iranian nuclear industry is that it’ll permit enrichment now…

All flag-waving — yours and mine — aside, the point here is that had nuclear power been handled intelligently, and particularly had the US not implemented the nuclear policies it did both at home and abroad, then how much global climate forcing by CO₂ release could have been avoided?

Let’s suppose, specifically, that the world as a whole had moved to nuclear power along the model France implemented in the 1970s. France today generates around 70 percent of its electricity from nuclear, so it’s one of the lowest per-capita CO₂ emitters among industrialized nations. One recent analysis I’ve seen claims that France’s nuclear program has prevented emissions equivalent to 28 times its total CO₂ output in 2023 over the past 47 years.

Okay. Scaling that globally, if the world had followed France’s lead starting in the 1970s or 1980s, we can estimate:

Global electricity-related CO₂ emissions could have been slashed dramatically. Electricity generation accounts for roughly 40% of global CO₂ emissions. Including plant construction, nuclear emits some 4 grams of CO₂ per kWh, as compared to 400–1000 grams for coal and 200–500 grams for gas. That’s a 99 percent reduction in many cases.

As the world has emitted over 1,700 gigatonnes of CO₂ since 1850, and about 1,000 gigatonnes since 1970, a nuclear-powered world could plausibly have avoided 300–500 gigatonnes of that.

In turn, given that the models suggest that every 1,000 gigatonne of CO₂ adds approx. 0.45 degrees C of warming, that means we might have avoided 0.13–0.23°C of warming, which is a substantial dent in the currently visible 1.2 degrees C rise.

(Visible, because there’s another 3 to 8 degrees of warming in the pipeline currently being masked by aerosol particulate release.)

So yet again, bad incentives and short-termism have become so deeply embedded that most who discuss nuclear power have little idea how and wasteful the US approach to nuclear power is. Raising awareness is a first step to making that change.



Source link

Tags: CommentsHoistedMythnuclearpromotedWaste
ShareTweetShare
Previous Post

How We Think, How We Teach: Five Ways to Think About AI in Faculty Work – Faculty Focus

Next Post

Send In The Clowns. Don’t Bother – They Are Here.

Related Posts

edit post
From NEOM to AI and tourism, Saudi Arabia’s priorities are shifting

From NEOM to AI and tourism, Saudi Arabia’s priorities are shifting

by TheAdviserMagazine
October 29, 2025
0

Digital render of NEOM's The Line project in Saudi ArabiaThe Line, NEOMWhen Saudi Arabia first announced plans to reinvent its...

edit post
The Trump Administration Is Lying Us Into Another War

The Trump Administration Is Lying Us Into Another War

by TheAdviserMagazine
October 29, 2025
0

Last week, President Trump ordered an aircraft carrier strike group into the waters off Venezuela. The deployment of the USS...

edit post
How Tariffs Hurt the Ones You Love

How Tariffs Hurt the Ones You Love

by TheAdviserMagazine
October 29, 2025
0

Yves here. Props to the VoxEU authors for a clever headline as well as an informative post. First, they’ve done...

edit post
Bill Gates: Climate Change Crisis Averted

Bill Gates: Climate Change Crisis Averted

by TheAdviserMagazine
October 29, 2025
0

Bill Gates is calling for a “strategic pivot” on climate change in a 17-page manifesto in which he declares that...

edit post
Grokpedia | Armstrong Economics

Grokpedia | Armstrong Economics

by TheAdviserMagazine
October 29, 2025
0

Grokipedia stays updated with real-time edits powered by Grok Automated fact-checks happen with no human bias and no errors Grok...

edit post
Trump says he expects to lower fentanyl-related tariffs on Beijing, discuss ‘farmers’

Trump says he expects to lower fentanyl-related tariffs on Beijing, discuss ‘farmers’

by TheAdviserMagazine
October 28, 2025
0

TOKYO, JAPAN - OCTOBER 27: U.S. President Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One as he arrives at Haneda Airport on...

Next Post
edit post
Send In The Clowns. Don’t Bother – They Are Here.

Send In The Clowns. Don't Bother - They Are Here.

edit post
Australia’s financial regulator slaps a 0 million fine on ANZ, its largest ever on a single entity

Australia's financial regulator slaps a $160 million fine on ANZ, its largest ever on a single entity

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
edit post
77-year-old popular furniture retailer closes store locations

77-year-old popular furniture retailer closes store locations

October 18, 2025
edit post
Pennsylvania House of Representatives Rejects Update to Child Custody Laws

Pennsylvania House of Representatives Rejects Update to Child Custody Laws

October 7, 2025
edit post
What to Do When a Loved One Dies in North Carolina

What to Do When a Loved One Dies in North Carolina

October 8, 2025
edit post
Another Violent Outburst – Democrats Inciting Civil Unrest

Another Violent Outburst – Democrats Inciting Civil Unrest

October 24, 2025
edit post
Probate vs. Non-Probate Assets: What’s the Difference?

Probate vs. Non-Probate Assets: What’s the Difference?

October 17, 2025
edit post
California Attorney Pleads Guilty For Role In 2M Ponzi Scheme

California Attorney Pleads Guilty For Role In $912M Ponzi Scheme

October 15, 2025
edit post
Mastercard poised to acquire crypto startup Zerohash for nearly  billion, sources say

Mastercard poised to acquire crypto startup Zerohash for nearly $2 billion, sources say

0
edit post
Earnings Preview: What to expect when Amazon reports Q3 2025 results

Earnings Preview: What to expect when Amazon reports Q3 2025 results

0
edit post
Israeli web security co Reflectiz raises m

Israeli web security co Reflectiz raises $22m

0
edit post
2025 Dividend Discount Model | Excel Calculator & Examples

2025 Dividend Discount Model | Excel Calculator & Examples

0
edit post
Grokpedia | Armstrong Economics

Grokpedia | Armstrong Economics

0
edit post
TRON DAO Participates in Europol’s 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets

TRON DAO Participates in Europol’s 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets

0
edit post
Mastercard poised to acquire crypto startup Zerohash for nearly  billion, sources say

Mastercard poised to acquire crypto startup Zerohash for nearly $2 billion, sources say

October 29, 2025
edit post
Coca-Cola Stock Is Already A Great Income Stock. Here’s How To Make It Better.

Coca-Cola Stock Is Already A Great Income Stock. Here’s How To Make It Better.

October 29, 2025
edit post
Jean Chatzky Warns That Emotional Loyalty Can Derail Retirement Planning as 85% of Americans Admit They Would Risk Financial Security to Help Family

Jean Chatzky Warns That Emotional Loyalty Can Derail Retirement Planning as 85% of Americans Admit They Would Risk Financial Security to Help Family

October 29, 2025
edit post
TRON DAO Participates in Europol’s 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets

TRON DAO Participates in Europol’s 9th Global Conference on Criminal Finances and Cryptoassets

October 29, 2025
edit post
Oasis CEO uses AI to create financial plans, stock analyses

Oasis CEO uses AI to create financial plans, stock analyses

October 29, 2025
edit post
Israeli web security co Reflectiz raises m

Israeli web security co Reflectiz raises $22m

October 29, 2025
The Adviser Magazine

The first and only national digital and print magazine that connects individuals, families, and businesses to Fee-Only financial advisers, accountants, attorneys and college guidance counselors.

CATEGORIES

  • 401k Plans
  • Business
  • College
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Economy
  • Estate Plans
  • Financial Planning
  • Investing
  • IRS & Taxes
  • Legal
  • Market Analysis
  • Markets
  • Medicare
  • Money
  • Personal Finance
  • Social Security
  • Startups
  • Stock Market
  • Trading

LATEST UPDATES

  • Mastercard poised to acquire crypto startup Zerohash for nearly $2 billion, sources say
  • Coca-Cola Stock Is Already A Great Income Stock. Here’s How To Make It Better.
  • Jean Chatzky Warns That Emotional Loyalty Can Derail Retirement Planning as 85% of Americans Admit They Would Risk Financial Security to Help Family
  • Our Great Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use, Legal Notices & Disclosures
  • Contact us
  • About Us

© Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved
See articles for original source and related links to external sites.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Financial Planning
    • Financial Planning
    • Personal Finance
  • Market Research
    • Business
    • Investing
    • Money
    • Economy
    • Markets
    • Stocks
    • Trading
  • 401k Plans
  • College
  • IRS & Taxes
  • Estate Plans
  • Social Security
  • Medicare
  • Legal

© Copyright 2024 All Rights Reserved
See articles for original source and related links to external sites.