this post was submitted on 14 May 2026
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[–] coalie@piefed.zip 152 points 20 hours ago (9 children)

Well nuclear power plants create something more useful than ai data centers, nuclear waste.

[–] mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works 6 points 6 hours ago

Nuclear waste can be reprocessed and reused. France has been doing it for decades. Or you could reuse it in a thorium reactor, which needs less reprocessing.

Another thing people forget about is that nuclear power is the main source for tritium, which we have a shortage of and it's getting worse as more nuclear plants are decommissioned. Tritium has a lot of uses, but it's most noteworthy use is fuel for fusion power. If decommission all nuclear plants, fusion research is effectively dead in the water

[–] vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works 2 points 5 hours ago

Loads depleted uranium rounds with militaristic intent

[–] call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 83 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago) (2 children)

Hell, some of the more modern designs barely produce that...

[–] urandom@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

What’s the point then?!

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 26 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

I still remember learning that and about breeder reactors (they produce fissile material from common isotopes) and feeling so betrayed by the common zeitgeist

[–] Mountainaire@lemmy.world 29 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

Indeed, nuclear is among the safest and cleanest forms of energy currently available to us! All the waste in the world for life barely fills a few football fields' worth of space, if I recall correctly.

[–] McTavern@lemmy.world 12 points 15 hours ago (2 children)

One football field 10 meters high to be precise.

[–] zurohki@aussie.zone 21 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago) (3 children)

One football field 10 meters high

You're mixing US and metric measurement systems there. You should either stick to meters or come up with a sports analogy for the height.

[–] ferrule@sh.itjust.works 4 points 5 hours ago

One futball field 10 meters high to be precise.

FTFY

[–] arrow74@lemmy.zip 11 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago)

11.574 standard National Baseball League baseball bats high

[–] inb4_FoundTheVegan@lemmy.world 7 points 15 hours ago

What if their from the parts of the world that call "soccer" football and also use metric? Which is basically everyone.

[–] Mountainaire@lemmy.world 2 points 14 hours ago

I knew it was something around there, thanks!

[–] richardwallass@sh.itjust.works 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

The issue with waste is not the volume but the duration.

[–] Mountainaire@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

But surely you'd agree that we have more than enough space for even lifetime storage, no? Compare that to the junk emitted from nearly everything else. What is your proposed alternative?

[–] Rakonat@lemmy.world 5 points 12 hours ago

Much of which can be used in hospitals for life saving medical uses! Double dunk on AI failures.

[–] Vespair@lemmy.zip 5 points 13 hours ago

Masterful comment delivery, kudos

[–] Shadowklaw@slrpnk.net 24 points 19 hours ago

Some groups have started to extract materials from nuclear waste that can provide Targeted Alpha Therapy for cancer patients, so very true.

[–] Steve 15 points 19 hours ago

Electricity too

[–] neon_nova@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 17 hours ago

Came here to say that one gives and the other one takes.