Recently read where the Chinese have created a method of turning radioactive waste back into useable fuel, so there's that hope at least.
I think they called it some kind of cannon. If I find the article I'll link it here.
https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/20...eam-cannon-nuclear-power-breakthrough/368082/
Found it.
There are several methods that are already employed, or can be employed, that can do this.
- France uses a chemical process called PUREX to reprocess SNF (this only works with enriched fuel)
- The Russians use a breeder reactor to consume SNF. This is something that other nations like France and the US have pursued as well, but don't currently employ.
- HWR reactors like the CANDU have several SNF fuel cycles like DUPIC and MOX.
Nuclear fuel is a million times more energy dense than fossil fuels. However, using traditional fission, we only extract a small percentage of that energy, which is why, in application, that density is ~20,000 times. Further utilization has been of interest since fission was first discovered, but it has never been very cost effective, which is why many solutions, that work, have been mostly abandoned.
Ideally, the goal of some of the novel designs/methods is to reduce the radioactivity to downgrade the storage requirements. One of the designs I've brought-up previously, the Moltex SSR, is designed to do that with CANDU SNF. Whether that is successful? All we can do is wait and see.