To Recycle or Not to Recycle???

To Recycle or Not to Recycle???

At this time recycling of fuel is not something that the United States is doing.  Jimmy Carter issued an executive order in 1977 trying to set precedence for the rest of the world not to recycle fuel.  The rest of the world did not follow our lead, therefore the rest of the world continued to develop and improve upon this technology while we as Americans sat by and watched.  The reason why we don’t currently recycle, as Regan lifted Carter’s ban in 1981, is that we haven’t done so in the past so our technology is behind.  It’s cheaper to purchase new than to recycle. 

 Lately there’s been a lot of talk about recycling of uranium.  The NRC announced that waste can safely be store on site for 60 years past the life of the plant. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-15/nuclear-waste-safe-for-60-years-after-a-reactor-closes-u-s-agency-finds.html)

Also an MIT study says that recycling is unnecessary because of the cheap cost of uranium.  (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-16/nuclear-fuel-recycling-unnecessary-amid-plentiful-supplies-mit-study-says.html)

      If we don’t recycle, we have a solution to the used fuel, onsite storage or a national repository; if we do recycle we can build off of the existing technology other countries have developed.  Either way, whether we recycle or not nuclear plants remain the largest emissions-free power producer in the country, 70%, even though we have not built new in many years.