# How affordable is nuclear energy really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 27, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805 "2008-10-27T18:30:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/41 "2008-10-30T05:04:31Z")
Can **Una Persson** or **Chronos** or someone who has a clue tell us the straightdope on nuclear waste? There are weird inconsistencies in “what can happen” between the two sides yet they both manage to cite stats to prove their case. - How long must it be kept in a pool? Why must it be kept in a pool? - What will happen if the pool empties? - What is the difference between “high level” and “low level” nuclear waste? How dangerous is it to be around the stuff (eat it versus breathe it versus hold it versus be 10 feet from it versus be a mile from it)? - Can nuclear waste be reprocessed? Why isn’t it reprocessed now? After reprocessing what is left as waste and is that better or worse? - How long must the waste be considered “harmful”? If half life is 24,000 years how much bad stuff is left after 24,000 years (does it really need to go 100,000 years till not enough is left to worry about)? - How long can casks be expected to contain what is in them? - If the casks fails what happens? (Leak into the water table, start a chain reaction, sit there and do nothing, something else?) ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/42 "2008-10-30T05:22:23Z")
> [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](#): > > As far as I know, nuclear power is subsidized right now, which I take it means it’s more expensive than coal or gas or other conventional ways of producing electricity (setting fire to things). It is subsidised in many ways - the research that leads to it is funded by the government, for instance. But the largest subsidy is in public liability insurance, which is entirely publicly funded. No private power company could afford the true premiums needed to cover a plant against a TMI-level event, let alone a Chernobyl-level one. > [@](#): > > Taking into account the costs of building the installations & storage of waste … The huge expense you’ve left out here is decommissioning. The Windscale pant in the UK started this process in the mid-80s and it is expected to finish in 2015 - 30 years’ work. [Cost of decommissioning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_decommissioning) > [@](#): > > In USA many utilities estimates now average 325 million per reactor all-up (1998 ). > > In France, decommissioning of Brennilis Nuclear Power Plant, a fairly small 70 MW power plant, already cost 480 millions euros (20x the estimate costs) and is still pending after 20 years. Despite the huge investments in securing the dismantlement, radioactive elements such as Plutonium, Cesium-137 and Cobalt-60 leaked out into the surrounding lake.[2] [3] > > In the UK, decommissioning of Windscale Advanced Cooled Reactor (WAGR), a 32 MW power plant, cost 117 millions euros. > > In Germany, decommissioning of Niederaichbach nuclear power plant, a 100MW power plant, cost about 90 millions euros. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/43 "2008-10-30T05:26:26Z")
I can answer a few of these: > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > What is the difference between “high level” and “low level” nuclear waste? How dangerous is it to be around the stuff (eat it versus breathe it versus hold it versus be 10 feet from it versus be a mile from it)? These are artificial legal categories created by the government to fulfill various purposes that don’t closely map onto dangerousness. Instead, it more closely tracks how the waste was created. High-level waste refers to the highly radioactive material resulting from the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel, including liquid waste produced directly in reprocessing and any solid material derived from such liquid waste that contains fission products in sufficient concentrations. Spent nuclear fuel is just that, the waste produced from nuclear reactors. Low-level waste is all radioactive material other than high level waste, spent nuclear fuel, and certain non-reactor wastes. Some low-level waste can be as radioactive as some high-level waste. On the other hand, some low-level waste can be disposed of as ordinary, unregulated trash. The dangerousness of waste is determined by a number of things, though primarily it is its radioactivity and the amount of time exposed. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Can nuclear waste be reprocessed? Why isn’t it reprocessed now? After reprocessing what is left as waste and is that better or worse? Yes, there is no doubt that it can. It isn’t reprocessed in the US now because the Carter administration decided it was too dangerous (for nuclear proliferation reasons). What is left is usable fuel, and other byproducts. The other byproducts depend on the method of reprocessing, though the most commonly proposed methods result in lower amounts of the kind of waste that must be stored for millenia. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > If the casks fails what happens? (Leak into the water table, start a chain reaction, sit there and do nothing, something else?) Leaking into the water supply is the major concern. Cancer, basically. There is no concern about “chain reactions.” But large areas and important water supplies could become contaminated. ---
**Author:** ![slaphead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9bcb4/32.png) [@slaphead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slaphead)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/44 "2008-10-30T13:18:16Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > You work in an industry that promised that Three Mile Island and Chernobyl couldn’t happen. Back then, the risks were not even minimal, the public was told “it can’t happen”. Three Mile Island was bad, but nobody hurt. Chernobyl was really bad. But Three Mile Island and Chernobyl aren’t the only reactors that have gone screwy. [http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmoilane/nuclear/Accidents.html](http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jmoilane/nuclear/Accidents.html) document six others that have become public. Windscale probably killed a lot of people over time. Road accidents kill over a million people per year, and motor vehicles cause all sorts of environmental carnage to boot. Tobacco kills five million a year and alcohol nearly as many. That’s well over ten million deaths every single year, and forecast to grow rapidly for the foreseeable future, and not only does no-one care, few people have even noticed. Throw in all the deaths caused by extracting, transporting and burning fossil fuels of various kinds and your “really bad” Chernobyl incident is such a tiny drop in the ocean it’s invisible. The dangers of nuclear power are essentially non-existent in the grand scheme of things. The cost is the real issue - and that cost is never going to change while people are unable to get their heads around the relative hazards of the various risks in their daily lives. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/45 "2008-10-30T16:00:44Z")
> [@slaphead](#): > > your “really bad” Chernobyl incident is such a tiny drop in the ocean it’s invisible. Forgive me, but I don’t see it that way. According to your logic, I should assassinate everyone who has ever crossed me without concern to morality because it is a drop in the bucket. While I do understand that there are people with this sociopathic attitude, most people do not see it this way. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/46 "2008-10-30T16:34:29Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > Forgive me, but I don’t see it that way. According to your logic, I should assassinate everyone who has ever crossed me without concern to morality because it is a drop in the bucket. While I do understand that there are people with this sociopathic attitude, most people do not see it this way. No, what he is saying is that many more people die from these things than from nuclear energy and wast. Yet tobacco and alcohol are considered cool, but nuclear energy is the boogeyman. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/47 "2008-10-30T16:53:02Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Can **Una Persson** or **Chronos** or someone who has a clue tell us the straightdope on nuclear waste? There are weird inconsistencies in “what can happen” between the two sides yet they both manage to cite stats to prove their case. Nuclear waste is not my specialty I’m afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/48 "2008-10-30T17:04:05Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Nuclear waste is not my specialty I’m afraid. I did not think it was but I thought you were very involved in the power generation industry so thought despite not being a nuclear specialist you still are more aware of issues surrounding various means of power generation than most people. Sorry if my assumption was incorrect. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/49 "2008-10-30T17:54:13Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I did not think it was but I thought you were very involved in the power generation industry so thought despite not being a nuclear specialist you still are more aware of issues surrounding various means of power generation than most people. Sorry if my assumption was incorrect. No, you got it right, I love to help out where I can. I only posted so you knew I wasn’t ignoring the question. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2008, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805/50 "2008-10-30T19:36:20Z")
I saw a program last week that said if Yucca opened we would fill it immediately with waste we have sitting around. It is 20 bill over budget. Bechtel is building it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-affordable-is-nuclear-energy-really/469805.md?page=2)