Video: There’s a solution to the nuclear waste problem, one we’ve known about for decades

Way back in October 2021, Vox released a video about nuclear power featuring Cleo Abrams. The gist of the video was that New York’s then-recent decision to shut down Indian Point nuclear reactor. As Abrams pointed out in a 10-minute clip, shutting down nuclear reactors is completely counter-productive for anyone who believes climate change is a problem that has to be dealt with immediately.

What happened when NY shut down Indian Point is that the state suddenly lost a major source of electric power which was soon replaced by power created by burning more natural gas. As Abrams pointed out there’s really no reason to shut down perfectly good nuclear power plants except for decades of lingering and largely irrational fear, an unfortunate leftover from the 1970s which the left has never relinquished.

Cleo Abrams doesn’t work for Vox anymore but she is still making videos. This week I came across one which feels like a follow up to that one from 2021. It’s titled, “The Big Lie About Nuclear Waste” and once again it’s an argument that one of the big problems people point to with nuclear power is largely a problem because of how we’ve approached it. In fact, there is a solution for nuclear waste which we’ve know about for many decades. Here’s the clip, which is about 14 minutes long, and then I’ll have a bit more commentary below.

If you stuck with it through the end, you’ll notice that the a lot of this seems to hinge on a decision that Jimmy Carter made back in the 1970s. The concern at the time was that these fast breeder reactors would create a bunch of plutonium which could be used to build bombs. Abrams notes that President Reagan reversed course and she briefly shows a NY Times headline “Reagan Nuclear Policy Is Called Irresponsible.” I found the story, which was actually a United Press International story (UPI)  and here’s what it said in 1981:

President Reagan’s decision to revitalize the nuclear power industry was assailed today as an irresponsible safety and economic policy that could lead to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

William Winpisinger, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said, ”In terms of economics, nuclear power is the most expensive, most inefficient and most Government-subsidized way to boil water ever designed by man.”

”In terms of the nation’s health, each nuclear power plant, with its potential for radiation release and on-site nuclear waste dump, is a communal cause of cancer,” he added, calling the new proposals ”a kamikaze act.”

Mr. Winpisinger’s remarks were made at a Capitol Hill news conference at tended by several members of Congress, Ralph Nader and other critics of nuclear power.

I don’t know does this feel biased to you? I mean, in the first sentence they accuse Reagan of nuclear weapons proliferation and then they spend the next two graphs quoting a union president from a press conference set up with Ralph Nader. By the way, the story doesn’t redeem itself later on because the whole thing is only 5 paragraphs. So what you see above is nearly all of it.

Anyway, the partisan hackery aspect of the story probably didn’t interest Cleo Abrams but it was of interest to me.