Nuclear power is a source of low-carbon electricity, but producing it creates dangerous radioactive waste that needs to be stored safely and permanently.
Recent research suggests that as seas rise, some nuclear waste storage facilities are at risk of flooding or storm damage.
“We really focused in to say, ‘OK, well, how many plants might actually be subject to these risks?’” says Sarah Jordaan of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
Her team looked at 13 facilities along the U.S. coast.
They found that if seas rise about six feet – which is possible by the end of the century – more than half of the waste storage sites would be directly along the water’s edge or even surrounded by water.
So she says it’s critical to anticipate these long-term vulnerabilities and take action.
“There are certainly ways that those risks can be managed now,” Jordaan says.
For example, after five years, spent fuel can be moved to dry casks. This is a safer long-term storage method than the cooling pools where a lot of spent fuel […]
We need more technological progress to overcome the problems associated with nuclear power and green energy generally. See this article
from rightwing Tucker Carlson:.
https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-texas-green-new-deal-climate-catastrophe
There can be no fair comparison between waste and pollution from nuclear power and wind/solar power “generally”. Green does not create plutonium waste with a half-life of 24K years.
It appears these sites could destroy entire oceans, which could pose a large risk for human life in general.