Ask Science
Ask a science question, get a science answer.
Community Rules
Rule 1: Be respectful and inclusive.
Treat others with respect, and maintain a positive atmosphere.
Rule 2: No harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or trolling.
Avoid any form of harassment, hate speech, bigotry, or offensive behavior.
Rule 3: Engage in constructive discussions.
Contribute to meaningful and constructive discussions that enhance scientific understanding.
Rule 4: No AI-generated answers.
Strictly prohibit the use of AI-generated answers. Providing answers generated by AI systems is not allowed and may result in a ban.
Rule 5: Follow guidelines and moderators' instructions.
Adhere to community guidelines and comply with instructions given by moderators.
Rule 6: Use appropriate language and tone.
Communicate using suitable language and maintain a professional and respectful tone.
Rule 7: Report violations.
Report any violations of the community rules to the moderators for appropriate action.
Rule 8: Foster a continuous learning environment.
Encourage a continuous learning environment where members can share knowledge and engage in scientific discussions.
Rule 9: Source required for answers.
Provide credible sources for answers. Failure to include a source may result in the removal of the answer to ensure information reliability.
By adhering to these rules, we create a welcoming and informative environment where science-related questions receive accurate and credible answers. Thank you for your cooperation in making the Ask Science community a valuable resource for scientific knowledge.
We retain the discretion to modify the rules as we deem necessary.
view the rest of the comments
It would still depend on a non-renewable resource that needs to be mined, with all the environmental destruction that comes with it.
And it would still produce nuclear waste, which we still haven't found a way to dispose of.
And in a vehicle fire, that nuclear fuel would spread everywhere even if it doesn't explode.
Meanwhile, battery electric vehicles can be charged by renewable energy that never runs out.
After the batteries have reached the end of their lifespan for the car, they can still be used in large battery banks to buffer peaks and shortages in the electrical grid. And after that, they can be recycled almost completely.
We can reprocess used nuclear fuel. The term waste is a bit more nuanced than it's colloquial usage when it comes to the nuclear industry. A majority (90%+) is low level waste (used anti-c suits, gloves, paper towels used to clean up suspected spills in radiation areas). The actual volume of high level waste (fuel rods and core material) is very small. For context, the amount of spent nuclear fuel the United States has ever produced since the advent of nuclear power could be fit in a football field 11 meters deep.
In response to OP, no, putting nuclear reactors in cars or transport vehicles doesn't make sense from a practical standpoint, as smaller engines are less efficient than larger ones, controlling for design. And the safety aspect of letting any joe blow have easy access to highly radioactive material is not in everyone's best interest.
Reprocessing fuel is prohibitively expensive.
https://www.belfercenter.org/publication/economics-reprocessing-vs-direct-disposal-spent-nuclear-fuel
Cool, let's take some of the roughly $700 Billion spent on fossil fuel subsidies annually and apply it there instead of coal and natural gas plants.
I am more than okay with my tax dollars subsidizing reprocessing if it means significantly less nuclear waste sitting around.