NEA News
2007 Volume 25, No. 2
Nuclear energy risks and benefits in perspective
Energy demand, rising prices, security of supply, climate change... these are major issues facing today’s energy policy makers. In response, the NEA has recently published a study on Risks and Benefits of Nuclear Energy in order to provide these policy makers with authoritative information
in support of their decision making. The study has also provided much of the basis for this article.
The possibility of recycling fuel is a very attractive – and nearly unique – feature of nuclear energy systems. The fissile and fertile materials contained in spent nuclear fuels and enrichment plant tails,
for example, may be retrieved and re-used to provide additional energy. Doing so also reduces the amount and radiotoxicity of waste that will ultimately need to be sent to repositories.