We can reprocess used nuclear fuel. The term waste is a bit more nuanced than it’s colloquial usage when it comes to the nuclear industry. A majority (90%+) is low level waste (used anti-c suits, gloves, paper towels used to clean up suspected spills in radiation areas). The actual volume of high level waste (fuel rods and core material) is very small.
For context, the amount of spent nuclear fuel the United States has ever produced since the advent of nuclear power could be fit in a football field 11 meters deep.
In response to OP, no, putting nuclear reactors in cars or transport vehicles doesn’t make sense from a practical standpoint, as smaller engines are less efficient than larger ones, controlling for design. And the safety aspect of letting any joe blow have easy access to highly radioactive material is not in everyone’s best interest.
We can reprocess used nuclear fuel. The term waste is a bit more nuanced than it’s colloquial usage when it comes to the nuclear industry. A majority (90%+) is low level waste (used anti-c suits, gloves, paper towels used to clean up suspected spills in radiation areas). The actual volume of high level waste (fuel rods and core material) is very small. For context, the amount of spent nuclear fuel the United States has ever produced since the advent of nuclear power could be fit in a football field 11 meters deep.
In response to OP, no, putting nuclear reactors in cars or transport vehicles doesn’t make sense from a practical standpoint, as smaller engines are less efficient than larger ones, controlling for design. And the safety aspect of letting any joe blow have easy access to highly radioactive material is not in everyone’s best interest.
Reprocessing fuel is prohibitively expensive.
https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/economics-reprocessing-vs-direct-disposal-spent-nuclear-fuel
Cool, let’s take some of the roughly $700 Billion spent on fossil fuel subsidies annually and apply it there instead of coal and natural gas plants.
I am more than okay with my tax dollars subsidizing reprocessing if it means significantly less nuclear waste sitting around.