Due to some catastrophic accidents in the past, nuclear energy has gotten a bad rap. Although the power now ranks as one of the safest around, it still holds a stigma that many people fear. Not only do people fear meltdowns, they also don’t want the reactors in their neighborhoods, as they fear that nuclear waste will be disposed of improperly which could lead to health issues. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is looking for ways to refine its strategy about nuclear waste after a report showed that one of the main repositories for waste could be full in as little as twenty years. The main nuclear waste repository in Britain is in the small Cumbrian town of Drigg handles a large amount of low level nuclear waste.
The facility is part of an industry that was developed during the Cold War but now must change its strategies in the face of new environmental worries like pollution and climate change. And the news that the facility may soon be at capacity only underscores the needs for a new strategy. Because of the fact that the facility is rapidly filling, it aims now only to take the most toxic of Britain’s low level waste so that it will not be at capacity by 2030, which is now a possibility.
This should bring nuclear power back into the discussion of alternative fuels in the UK and will hopefully underscore the need for additional facilities to handle waste.
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