A nuclear fuel rod is used for 3-6 years. After that, it’s taken out of the reactor and then continues to stay radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years...
For its part, the US Energy Department, which owns almost 50 tons of excess Cold War plutonium, contracted with the French government-owned nuclear-fuel cycle company, Areva (now Orano), in 2008 to build a MOX fuel fabrication plant. But the United States switched to a “dilute and dispose” policy for its excess plutonium in 2017 after the estimated cost of the MOX plant grew from $2.7 billion to $17 billion.
We do…
The US military sells our “spent” fuel to France who refines it and uses it.
Why do people always want to learn about nuclear energy from YouTube videos made by teenagers with no clue how nuclear power works?
…err the video is 90% a tour of the ORANO La Hague spent fuel recycling facility… by adults.
Oh really?
Source
That does have most of the same words, so I could see why a search engine thought it was relevant…
But did you read it? Even just the part you quoted?
Like, that’s talking about cold war plutonium…
That’s not what used military reactor fuel is…
So do you have a source on that?
how much though? I was under the impression that the vast majority of US nuclear fuel is “once through” and the waste goes into long term storage.