Nuclear power stations produce high-level radioactive waste. It is dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years — and so far, the world has failed to deliver a safe, permanent storage method.
For decades, Australia has sold uranium – but said no to nuclear reactors. That’s set to change, whether in nuclear submarines or even in plans for power plants.
Äspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden, where KBS-3 repository technologies have been tested.
Anna Storm
Spent nuclear fuel remains dangerous for so long that languages can disappear and humanity’s very existence cannot be guaranteed. So how do we communicate information about repositories into the future?
Huge amounts of contaminated soil have been removed from areas of Fukushima Prefecture.
Franck Robichon/EPA
Now that plans for a national radioactive waste management facility near Kimba in South Australia have been abandoned, what next? Let’s learn from our mistakes.
A new process to quickly remove radioactive chemicals from water and other liquids and trap them in a clay-like substance could make nuclear waste management much easier.
Inside the world’s first nuclear waste repository in Onkalo, Finland.
IAEA Imagebank
Radioactive waste from nuclear medicine facilities will be trucked to and buried near the South Australian town of Kimba. But this decision still faces a range of hurdles.
The submarine announcement is sure to trigger a new round of debate on whether nuclear energy is right for Australia. But let’s be clear: the technology makes no sense for Australia.
Rosemary Laing, one dozen considerations, Totem 1, Emu (2013) on display at The Image is Not Nothing.
Josh Geelen
Nuclear energy generates 75% of France’s electricity, and ongoing troubles at the new Flamanville EPR reactor have raised crucial questions about its future in the country’s electricity mix.
The Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Station in Finland, at the site of the Onkalo geological disposal facility.
Claire Corkhill
There’s precious little business case for nuclear power in Australia, but we could start with the end product: storing radioactive waste.
It would be nice to blast dangerous nuclear waste far away from Earth, or into the Sun where it won’t cause any harm. However, it’s not as simple as it sounds.
NASA
At the end of the day, the problem is that no-one on Earth wants nuclear waste stored near them, and it’s not safe or cost-effective to blast it into space.