Bill Gates: Nuclear Waste Shouldn't be Used as an Excuse to Avoid Nuclear Energy

The issue of nuclear waste should not discourage the use of nuclear energy according to Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist who founded TerraPower last year, a startup that develops next-generation nuclear energy sources.

Nuclear power generates waste that remains radioactive for thousands of years after it is generated, and this is often viewed as one of the criticisms of nuclear power.

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According to Gates, "the waste problems shouldn't be a reason why nuclear power shouldn't be developed," he said in an interview published on Thursday with the German business publication, Handelsblatt, as part of his comments on nuclear power. “I believe that the amount of waste involved, and the ability to do geological sequestration, are not reasons to not go nuclear,” Gates explained that compared to the energy generated by nuclear reactors, nuclear waste constitutes a very small quantity.

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“I believe there would be a few rooms worth of total waste if the US were completely nuclear-powered. I would say it is not a gigantic thing at all," Gates explained. “Nuclear waste can be stored and sequestered underground without the cost being a big issue because it can be put into deep boreholes underground, where it will remain geologically intact for hundreds of millions of years,” he stated.

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Even though the amount of carbon dioxide emissions generated from burning fossil fuels for energy is “something gigantic” it would be very difficult to sequester that underground, which Gates said, “may not be possible.”

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A nuclear power plant has been classified as a "zero-emission clean energy source" by the United States Department of Energy because, in the process of generating electricity by nuclear fission, no greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere.

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Currently, 19 percent of the electricity generated in the United States comes from nuclear power plants, according to a report published by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. It is estimated that half of the carbon-free electricity generated in the United States comes from this source, according to the United States Department of Energy. 

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The construction of new nuclear power reactors, however, came to a virtual halt after a boom in nuclear reactor construction in the 1970s and 1980s, owing to a lack of financing.

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“The best hope for nuclear power shortly is that we could get a completely new generation of reactors - and I am biased because I am a part of that process - where the countries that are committed to nuclear have to prove it out and demonstrate that the economic safety, waste management is handled appropriately,” Gates concluded.

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“The other countries who have a lower level of engagement will have the opportunity to look at it and give it a fresh evaluation based on what they think. As you know, we will not have any data on that for almost another eight years or so," Gates said about the research.

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No permanent nuclear waste repository in the US

There are still no permanent disposal facilities for nuclear waste in the United States after decades of nuclear power generation. It was at Yucca Mountain in Nevada that the US nuclear industry came the closest to securing a permanent repository for its nuclear waste, but that effort has been stalled due to political differences.

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There are currently dry casks, which are stainless steel canisters surrounded by concrete, that are used to store nuclear waste. According to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S.'s top nuclear watchdog, these dry casks are considered to be safe for use in nuclear reactors. In Olkiluoto, Finland, a permeant underground geological storage facility is currently being constructed, making it the first of its kind in the world.

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Furthermore, there are different levels of radioactivity associated with different types of nuclear waste. It is only a very small percentage of the waste generated that contains the greatest amount of radioactivity.

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“A large portion of the volume of nuclear waste that is generated in the world is Low-Level Waste,” said Jonathan Cobb, spokesperson for the World Nuclear Association, to Trade Algo. There is an estimated 90 percent of nuclear waste produced in the world that is low-level waste, but it contains only 1 percent of the radioactivity that nuclear waste contains. These items can include things like protective clothing, mops, filters, equipment, and tools that have been contaminated with radioactive material at a low level, such as protective clothing, mops, filters, and equipment. A common cause of LLW is the use of nuclear medicine instruments, such as swabs, injection needles, and syringes for nuclear medicine.

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Cobb told Trade Algo that high-level nuclear waste, which includes used nuclear fuel and reprocessed wastes, constitutes about 3 percent of all radioactive wastes, but contains 95 percent of all the radiation.