Why Nuclear Waste Still Contains 90% of Its Energy ⚛️♻️ And Why Most Countries Don’t Recycle It

 

Nuclear Waste Isn’t What You Think ☢️💥

Inside the World’s Most Advanced Nuclear Recycling Plant

Nuclear waste has one of the worst reputations on Earth 😬.

Say the words “radioactive waste” and most people imagine glowing green barrels ☢️, buried deep underground, dangerous for tens of thousands of years. And while that image isn’t completely wrong, it hides a fact so shocking it can stop even experienced reporters in their tracks.

👉 When we throw away nuclear fuel, more than 90% of its energy is still left inside.

Yes. Ninety percent. 🤯

We usually use nuclear fuel rods for just three to five years. Then we label them “spent,” remove them from the reactor, and lock them away as radioactive trash—sometimes forever.

But here’s the kicker 👇
🔋 Up to 96% of spent nuclear fuel is recyclable.

So why aren’t we reusing it?

To answer that question, I went to the undisputed world leader in nuclear recycling: France 🇫🇷.

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The Nuclear Waste That Never Really Runs Out ♻️⚛️

I’ve spent years reporting on nuclear waste. I’ve been inside former salt mines packed with over 100,000 barrels of radioactive trash. I’ve visited the world’s first permanent nuclear waste storage sites.

And yet, this one fact stopped me cold 🛑:

We barely use nuclear fuel before throwing it away.

After a few years inside a reactor, fuel rods still contain enormous amounts of usable energy—but they’re retired because physics makes it hard to squeeze more electricity out of them safely.

Instead, they sit around.
Still radioactive.
Still energy-dense.
Still dangerous.
For tens of thousands of years ⏳.

Unless you live in France.

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Welcome to France’s Nuclear Recycling Hub 🇫🇷⚡

France gets about two-thirds of its electricity from nuclear power, the highest share in the world 🌍. And all of its spent nuclear fuel comes to one place.

Five hours west of Paris, near the Atlantic coast, sits the country’s only nuclear recycling plant—operated by Orano.

“This site is huge,” explains Sylvain Renouf, who’s worked here for nearly 20 years.

🧱 “Two thirds of it is underground. We have 24,000 rooms. It’s a maze.”

Before entering, there’s a warning:

👕 If contamination happens, your clothes stay here—not you.

Comforting… sort of 😅.

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Standing Next to Radioactive Waste 😳🔥

The first stop is where used fuel arrives.

A massive steel transportation cask rolls in—110 tons of pure engineering muscle.

“Is there fuel in there right now?”
“Yes.”
“Oh my God.” 😳

And yet—we’re standing right next to it.

Inside the cask, temperatures reach 200–300°C, but thick steel shielding protects us completely from radiation.

“You can sometimes feel the heat,” Sylvain says casually.

😵‍💫 This is the closest I’ve ever been to nuclear waste.

One of these casks arrives every single day.

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Entering the Nuclear Zone 🚨📟

Before moving deeper, Sylvain activates a dosimeter 📟.

“If something happens, it will ring.”

Great.

Inside, robotic systems remotely unload fuel rods from the casks. Humans never touch them. Everything is sealed, automated, and controlled from behind thick shielding.

More than 95% of the fuel processed here comes from France, but Orano also handles fuel from countries like:

• 🇳🇱 Netherlands

• 🇦🇺 Australia

• 🇯🇵 Japan

The fuel rods now move to step two: cooling.

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The Cooling Pools: Beauty and Terror 💧😮

We step next to a vast pool filled with crystal-clear water.

“Oh my God… wow.”

Below us are baskets—hundreds of them—each filled with used nuclear fuel.

Four meters of water sit above the rods, acting as radiation shielding.

“I feel a bit woozy,” I admit.
“I understand,” Sylvain replies. “I’m used to it.”

😬 The fuel stays here for five to seven years, cooling down before recycling begins.

To Sylvain, these rods aren’t waste at all.

“This is a uranium and plutonium mine. A strategic resource.”

And he’s right.

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Why Nuclear Fuel Is Declared “Spent” ⚛️🔬

To understand why most countries throw this fuel away, we need a quick nuclear crash course 🧠.

Nuclear power works by splitting uranium atoms (fission). When a neutron hits certain uranium atoms, they split, releasing heat—and more neutrons—creating a chain reaction.

🔥 Heat → 💨 Steam → 🌀 Turbine → ⚡ Electricity

But fission creates byproducts called fission products. After a few years, they absorb neutrons and slow the reaction.

At that point, the fuel still contains:

• A lot of uranium

• Newly created plutonium

• Tons of unused energy

But physics makes it hard to keep extracting power safely in standard reactors.

So the fuel is labeled “spent.”

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Step Three: Separating the Good Stuff 🧪🤖

Behind thick concrete walls, Orano performs its most complex work.

No windows.
No humans inside.
Only sensors, robots, and remote systems 🤖.

The process:

1. Remove metal cladding

2. Dissolve fuel pellets in nitric acid

3. Use solvents to separate materials

The result?

• Uranium (reusable)

• Plutonium (reusable… and dangerous)

• Fission products (true waste)

Only about 4% of the material is non-recyclable.

But plutonium is where things get controversial 😬.

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The Plutonium Problem 💣⚠️

Plutonium is insanely energy-dense.

💡 One gram = one metric ton of oil

But it’s also what makes nuclear weapons possible.

That’s why most countries avoid recycling.

In the 1970s, India extracted plutonium from civilian reactors and used it for nuclear weapons. That terrified the world—especially the United States.

“Allison Macfarlane,” former chair of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission explains:

“That’s when the U.S. indefinitely deferred reprocessing to prevent nuclear proliferation.”

France chose a different path.

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MOX Fuel: Recycling Without Bombs 🔄⚡

Orano ships plutonium across France in secret convoys 🚚💂‍♂️, guarded by the military.

It’s mixed with uranium to create MOX fuel (Mixed Oxide Fuel).

This fuel:

• Reduces fresh uranium use by 30%

• Powers 10% of France’s electricity

It works—but MOX fuel isn’t recycled again. After another few years, it too becomes waste.

Which brings us to the final step.

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Vitrification: Trapping Waste in Glass 🧊🔥

The remaining fission products are melted into glass—a process called vitrification.

We stand on a concrete floor two meters thick.

Below us?
Eighteen glass canisters stacked beneath our feet.

“That’s one year of nuclear waste for France,” Sylvain explains.

😲 If France didn’t recycle, it would need five times more space.

Glass makes the waste safer and more compact—but it still needs long-term storage.

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Why Most Countries Don’t Do This 💸❌

Here’s the brutal truth:

🔹 Recycling nuclear fuel is expensive
🔹 Uranium is still relatively cheap
🔹 Infrastructure and security costs are massive

“It’s cheaper to mine uranium, use it once, and throw it away,” Macfarlane explains.

Out of 32 nuclear-powered countries, only a handful recycle:

• 🇫🇷 France

• 🇷🇺 Russia

• 🇮🇳 India

• 🇨🇳 China

France committed to this strategy over 60 years ago—and locked it in through 2040.

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So… Is Nuclear Waste a Resource or a Problem? 🤔⚡

The answer is both.

Yes, nuclear waste contains massive amounts of energy.
Yes, recycling reduces waste volume.
No, it doesn’t eliminate long-term storage needs.
No, it isn’t cheap or easy.

For countries like France, nuclear recycling makes strategic sense 🇫🇷.
For everyone else? Not so much.

The waste piling up worldwide is a resource—but not one every country can afford to use.

And until cheaper, safer recycling tech arrives, nuclear waste will remain one of humanity’s strangest contradictions:

💡 An energy treasure
☢️ Wrapped in a radioactive problem