Fourth generation nuclear energy.?

Question

I have heard that the nuclear reactors in France are run on what we in the US consider nuclear waste. Is this true? Do we have a way to use up nuclear waste, yet?

What are the possibilities?

Can we reuse the waste in different ways, recycle and react the material until it is harmless? (won't the last smidgen of energy we suck out of a chunk of material formerly known as plutonium be the last smidgen of dangerous radioactivity?) then we can just tar the roads with what's leftover?

Answer 1

We don't use this technology here in the US because we consider it to be a proliferation hazard.  Our nuclear reactors that produce electricity do not produce material that can easily be made into a nuclear bomb.  The reactors that reuse nuclear fuel unfortunately do produce fissile material that can be used in weapons.

Answer 2

the French company Areva, formerly Cogema is actually the world leader for recycling nuclear waste.

But it has its limits, ant there are still radioactive waste at the end, they are just less armful and will last shorter...

Did you know that the USA use uranium waste to produce perforating bullets? They have used lots of them in Irak.

The nuclear energy is considered one of the cleanest currently known. It has almost no impact on global warming.

The energy of the future will probably be nuclear, or come from nuclear fusion maybe.

Answer 3

It's an interesting idea.  

Answer 4

The material is never completely converted to non-radioactive elements.

You may have heard of the half-life; the amount of time it takes for half of the material to break down into other elements.  After 5000 years, half of the material is left.  After 10000 years, 1/4 of the material is left.  After 15000 years, 1/8 of the material is left, and so on.

A similar thing happens in a reactor, only at an accelerated rate.  You never get rid of all the radioactive material.  90% of it might be used up before it becomes unsuitable for further reactor use.