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A Mountain of Nuclear Waste: Nuclear Power and the Engineering Problems that Surround It��

Since the Industrial Revolution, we have primarily relied on fossil fuels for power, but what was once the dawn of a new era could spell the end of life as we know it today. Fossil fuels are a limited resource, and, as a Stanford study from 2019 suggests, we could run out of oil by 2052, gas by 2060, and coal by 2090 (Figure 1), which is within many of our lifetimes.1��

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Perhaps more urgent than running out of fuel is the issue of global warming, which has already contributed to ice at the pole melting, leading to higher ocean levels and flooding. Extreme temperatures, wildfires, and even hurricanes are becoming more frequent and more deadly due to global warming. Continuing to burn fossil fuels and release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere will further worsen heat waves, flooding, droughts, crop yields, and coral reef die-off.2��

A Greener Alternative��

Considering the scarcity and dangers of fossil fuels, we need an alternative; nuclear energy looks promising. As John Kennedy, a U.S Senator for Louisiana, explains, “Wisdom and data suggest that America needs an all-of-the-above approach to energy, one that includes renewables, fossil fuels, and nuclear energy.”3 Using known reserves, we have enough uranium to supply 100 years of power at current demand, and future technological improvements could utilize the uranium in the world’s oceans, which could supply thousands or tens of thousands of years of energy.4 Nuclear energy also does not have CO2 as a biproduct, so it could act as a good “bridge solution” while we find ways to further develop storage solutions for renewable sources of energy. The International Energy Agency (IEA) agrees that achieving net zero emissions globally will be more difficult without nuclear power, so nuclear plays a vital role in powering the future.5��

A Necessary Biproduct��

The clean power that nuclear energy provides does not come free, however. Creating energy from nuclear fuel necessarily produces radioactive waste. The United States alone has 85,000 metric tons of nuclear waste, which is increasing at a rate of 2,000 metric tons per year.6 The most dangerous of this waste is designated high-level waste (HLW), composed of spent fuel that remains thermally hot, highly radioactive, and potentially harmful to humans and the environment for hundreds of thousands of years.7 Though we have permanent storage methods for low- and mid-level wastes, will still don’t have a permanent solution for managing