Compared with coal burners, nuclear power plants generate little waste. A 1,000-MW coal-fired facility produces 30 lbs. of ash per sec., which comes to 423,040 tons a year, or enough to fill 2,568 trailer trucks. The waste from a nuclear plant of the same size would fit into a refrigerator.
But the contents of that refrigerator would be much more difficult to dispose of than all those ash-laden trucks. Coal ash is essentially inert and harmless. Used nuclear fuel rods, which are 12 ft. long and ½ in. in diameter and are fastened together...
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