Smaller Reactors May Still Have a Big Nuclear Waste Problem

Jun 2, 2022 8:00 AMA new generation of reactors promises a nuclear energy renaissance, but critics say the US needs to figure out what to do about its radioactive garbage first.

Photograph: Roberto Hunger/Alamy

Lindsay decided to study nuclear waste because of her love for the arcane. Figuring out how to bury radioactive atoms isn't easy, and it takes a blend of particle physics, careful geology and engineering. Time is the most difficult ingredient. It will take thousands of years for nuclear waste to become safer. Any solution can not require too much stewardship. It has to work and keep working. The company that designed the reactor will not exist by that time. Who knows? Maybe the United States won't exist either.

You have read your last complimentary article.