Growing up in the 50s and 60s, we were all sold on the notion of nuclear powered energy. Cheap, clean and unlimited supplies of electricity. The idea boomed and for a while it seemed that the world loved the idea. In the US the love of nuclear power has dimmed, but in the rest of the world it continues to boom. There are 450 plants around the world, with more being built.
The US is trying to build more but the construction in the US in incredibly expensive and we no longer have a domestic manufacturer since the Toshiba/Westinghouse debacle.
From my perspective the challenge has always been handling the nuclear waste. Trillions of dollars have been spent on all sorts of schemes to reuse, recycle and even just store the stuff. We Americans were extorted out of $36 billion to fund the construction of the Yucca Mountain storage facility via our electric bills. This was supposed to be safe storage for 1 million years. The Obama administration stopped the potential use of the place after it was built.
Although this article is written by a Greenpeace activist, it’s a good overview of Japan’s challenges in storing waste. It explains why their last disaster could have been worse. With the closing of Yucca Mountain, waste continues to be stored in America’s power sites, perhaps waiting for a disaster. Read more heree.