Carolyn Heising, professor of industrial and manufacturing systems engineering, discusses the benefits of recycling used fuel from power reactors, and why it’s a good idea for our country to consider in a guest column in the Cedar Rapids Gazette.
One of the arguments against recycling the waste is a risk of plutonium being more accessible. Heising counters that argument by noting that France, Great Britain, and Japan all recycle waste and have not had nuclear weapons made with plutonium from their facilities.
She also discusses how recycling can make the energy source more viable, lower carbon emissions, and reduce waste from nuclear energy overall.