Can fracking rid us of nuclear waste? | Climate News Network
▻http://www.climatenewsnetwork.net/2014/04/can-fracking-rid-us-of-nuclear-waste
By Tim Radford
Fracking is opposed by many communities for a range of reasons. But it appears the geology that holds hard-to-reach hydrocarbons could also be suitable for storing spent nuclear fuel.
LONDON, 6 April – US scientists are proposing that the source of one controversial energy programme could provide a solution to the problems of another. Nuclear waste – that embarrassing by-product of two generations of uranium-fuelled power stations – could be stored indefinitely in the shale rock that right now provides a highly contentious source of natural gas for utility companies.
An estimated 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel is stored in temporary, above-ground facilities: for decades, governments, anti-nuclear campaigners and nuclear generating companies have all agreed that such a solution is unsafe in the long-term, and unsatisfactory even in the short term.