The best-managed industrial waste in history

[Marlin]

The best-managed industrial waste in history

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02508-2

[Core Content]

MIT researcher Haruko Wainwright argues that the nuclear industry has managed spent fuel more effectively than other industrial sectors. Despite ongoing public concerns regarding long-term disposal, current containment methods successfully isolate radioactive materials from the environment. This perspective suggests that expanded nuclear energy production remains viable even while permanent geological repository projects continue to face regulatory and political delays.

Expanded use of nuclear energy will protect the environment even without fresh options for waste disposal.

Haruko Wainwright studies environmental science for nuclear applications at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

Almost since the first nuclear power plant started generating electricity in the 1950s, critics have pointed out the difficulty of safely disposing of highly radioactive spent fuel. In those days, radiation was among the few carcinogens that were recognized and could be measured easily. Cold-war anxieties amplified public fear of nuclear technologies and radiation. As a result, spent fuel — often referred to as nuclear waste — came to be treated as uniquely hazardous, requiring exceptionally...

Read the full article at nature.com:
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-02508-2?error=cookies_not_supported&code=9a2fb963-2af9-49e0-83fa-845453afa4f0