Nuclear waste basics
Watching "San Onofre Syndrome" and talking about it has taught me:
Building one nuclear power facility requires enormous amounts of cement and steel. Manufacturing cement and steel demand tremendous amounts of energy and generate tremendous carbon emissions. Mining and refining uranium ore to make reactor fuel also require large amounts of energy. We therefore cannot rightly call nuclear power "carbon-neutral" or "zero-emitting".
During routine operations, cooling a nuclear reactor requires millions of gallons of water, daily. Along with the building's cement structure, this water becomes radioactive.
Radioactive waste lasts up to 500 million years.
We do not know how to dispose of radioactive waste safely.
Students of nuclear engineering are not required to study disposal of radioactive waste: such classes are elective.
No underwriter will insure a nuclear reactor. No underwriter will ensure homeowners or renters for the impacts of nuclear fallout.
Governments subsidize nuclear reactors. Private investors are reluctant to fund them since they are not economically viable.
The biosphere's waste, the technosphere's waste
In the 25 years that my husband and I have given our kitchen scraps to worms, our compost piles have volunteered kabocha squash, cilantro, an apricot tree now over ten feet tall and nutrient-dense soil that we regularly return to vegetable beds. Compost is the biosphere's generosity in action, the beauty of life emerging from decay. We eat, we poop, we die, we decompose... and cycle toward the next generation.
Everything in the technosphere produces waste and dies, too. But it doesn't biodegrade. Computers, smartphones, televisions, solar panels, batteries, vehicles and other electronics generate hazardous waste. Nuclear reactors' radioactive waste can destroy basic cellular processes and the ecosystems we need for life to continue.
I consider "SOS: The San Onofre Syndrome" a forum. It informs viewers about nuclear reactors and radioactive waste and inspires discussion about how to live with peace between our ears during radioactive times.
What's your part? Start by learning about the nuclear reactors near you. Connect with local watchdogs and even one person open to naming questions and discussing their part.
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