Welcome to Nuclear Update!

This week I’m thrilled to reveal the secret to cold fusion is… [REDACTED BY THE ILLUMINATI]

And since so many of you have asked for it, this week we’re diving headfirst into one of nuclear’s hottest topics (and longest-lasting debates): waste.

It’s big, it’s messy, and it’s long overdue for a proper breakdown. With the summer news cycle finally catching its breath, I figured now’s the perfect time to do it justice.

But First; This week’s trivia question:

Last week, I asked: What type(s) of radiation are produced in the core of a nuclear reactor?

You said: 

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Alpha (3%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Beta (3%)

🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Gamma (14%)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Neutrons (7%)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 All of the above (73%)

Now, let’s dive into the molten-hot topic that never seems to cool off…

⚛️”What About The Waste?”

So today we’re talking about nuclear waste. Or as I like to call it: partially used treasure.

Let’s get one thing straight: "waste" is a bit of a misnomer. Spent nuclear fuel still contains about 90% of its original energy.

That’s like tossing out your leftover food because it cooled down, even though your microwave is right there.

So what actually happens to this misunderstood resource? Let’s break it down.

💡 First Stop: Spent Fuel Pools (What we do now)

After fuel is removed from a reactor, it’s still incredibly hot, thermally and radioactively. So it goes into large, water-filled pools onsite to cool down for at least 5–10 years. The water acts as both a coolant and a radiation shield.

You’ve probably seen these pools in documentaries. They look like pristine blue Jacuzzis, except they’re filled with radioactive fuel rods (not German tourists).

This method has been used safely for decades, and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) considers it a proven and essential part of spent fuel management.

🧊Then: Dry Cask Storage

Once cool enough, the fuel is transferred into dry casks — heavily shielded steel and concrete containers built to withstand floods, earthquakes, and even direct hits from Boeing 747s.

These casks are typically stored on concrete pads near the reactor.

They don’t leak. They don’t explode. And they don’t emit significant radiation.

In fact, dry casks have a near-flawless safety record after more than 30 years of use in the U.S. alone.

So safe that Nuclear Advocate Madi Hilly went viral in 2023 for posing next to spent nuclear fuel while being 27 weeks pregnant.

Think of dry casks like short-term bonds: low risk, stable, but not a long-term plan.

Eventually, your fuel needs a retirement account. Something deep, durable, and locked away for millennia…

⛏️Deep Geological Repositories (Long-term solution)

Storing nuclear waste isn’t just an engineering challenge. It’s a time-travel problem.

We’re talking about designing containers that can outlast civilizations, glaciers, even languages. That’s where deep geological repositories come in.

Waste is buried hundreds of meters underground in stable rock formations, such as granite, clay, or salt.

These repositories are designed to isolate waste for hundreds of thousands of years, long after any radiation poses a threat.

The geology ensures stability, and the depth ensures safety from surface-level disturbances like floods or earthquakes.

The approach is backed by decades of research and modeling. Engineers design multiple redundant barriers, including metal canisters, bentonite clay buffers, and the surrounding rock itself, all to contain the waste.

Finland’s Onkalo is the most advanced, with operations expected to begin in the 2030s. It’s located in bedrock 400 meters underground and built to withstand natural disasters, glaciation, and even future sea level changes. Spent fuel will be encased in copper canisters and sealed in tunnels lined with clay.

Sweden has approved the construction of its final repository at Forsmark, which will use similar designs to Onkalo.

Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) is currently evaluating two potential host communities for a deep geological repository, with final site selection expected by 2025. The repository will be situated in either sedimentary or crystalline rock.

The Yucca Mountain project was intended to be the U.S. answer to permanent disposal. Although technically vetted and approved by the NRC, it was defunded in 2011 due to political opposition. Still, it remains one of the most extensively studied sites in nuclear history.

🔁 Reprocessing: Recycling the Unspent

Countries like France, Russia, and Japan reprocess spent fuel, separating out plutonium and uranium for reuse. In other words: turning yesterday’s leftovers into tomorrow’s reactor feedstock.

Reprocessing doesn’t eliminate waste entirely, but it shrinks the volume and cuts down the toxicity. It also pulls out fissile material that can be recycled into new fuel, most commonly MOX (mixed oxide fuel), a blend of plutonium and uranium.

France uses MOX in more than a dozen reactors. Japan and Russia also operate commercial reprocessing plants.

The U.S.? It shut down reprocessing in the 1970s over fears that separated plutonium could be turned into weapons. But newer, proliferation-resistant tech is starting to change minds, and reignite interest.

That said, reprocessing isn’t a silver bullet. It’s complex, costly, and still produces high-level waste that needs long-term storage. But it does give us more mileage out of our fuel, and fewer barrels to bury.

🔥 Fast Reactors: Burn the Waste

Even cooler? Advanced fast reactors can burn spent fuel directly, squeezing out more energy and dramatically shrinking the final waste.

Unlike thermal reactors, fast reactors use (you guessed it) fast neutrons to sustain the fission chain reaction. That lets them split a broader range of heavy elements, including many of the nastier ones in spent fuel.

So instead of just reusing plutonium and uranium, fast reactors can “burn” other long-lived isotopes, turning them into shorter-lived or even stable elements. The result? Less waste, less time, less radiotoxicity.

They also pair nicely with reprocessing. The recovered plutonium and uranium become fresh fuel, and the remaining waste is far smaller and safer.

This isn’t sci-fi. TerraPower’s Natrium and X-Energy’s Xe-100 are both backed by the U.S. Department of Energy through its Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). Russia’s already running several fast reactors and pushing the tech forward.

🧪 Transmutation

Still in the experimental stage, transmutation is a form of nuclear alchemy.

The idea is to bombard long-lived isotopes with neutrons to change their atomic structure, effectively transforming them into elements that decay faster or are stable.

This could reduce the timescale for waste hazard from hundreds of thousands of years to a few hundred.

Transmutation would work especially well as part of an integrated fuel cycle involving reprocessing and advanced reactors.

The EU has supported several R&D initiatives on this front, including MYRRHA in Belgium and studies under Euratom.

🤯 Wild Ideas

Launch it into space – Sounds clean, but the risk of rocket failure is too high. One accident could spread radioactive material globally.

Subduction zones – These deep ocean trenches recycle Earth's crust. Burying waste here might work, but it's impossible to retrieve and geopolitically complex.

Undersea disposal – Once proposed and even tested in the 20th century. Now banned by the London Convention due to environmental concerns and global opposition.

None of these are viable for now, but they show how far the imagination has gone in search of permanent nuclear waste solutions.

The bottom line: We know how to manage nuclear waste safely. The tools exist, the science is sound, and the record is stellar. What’s lacking isn’t solutions; it’s political will and public understanding.

So the next time someone says "but what about the waste," feel free to reply:

"Glad you asked. It’s complicated. But it’s under control."

💪Review of the Week

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research