I’m not sure how we’re supposed to believe that disposal of nuclear waste won’t be a problem when we can’t manage systems to properly deal with the waste we are creating now.
I’m not a proponent of nuclear energy, especially not for Australia, but we need a better whole of system waste management design, inclusive of radioactive waste materials.
Be it from the boats we’re deciding to build, the unresolved temporary on site waste storage at Lucas Heights, or a possible future refining rare earth elements.
Right now all the different levels of government seem to do is farm their waste problems out to contractors when the waste disposal becomes complicated. And these conpanies like Visy don’t seem to invest in much apart from the odd MIRV here and there and stick it in the ground.
Australia has got to be among the most wasteful societies on our planet, (per capita), but we also must have among the best abilities to deal with this problem.
First problem is, its not even on our radar as an issue that holds back our development as a country that does anything else but digging stuff out the ground.
Just listened to this,
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3g7UIqi616HUNle9zkeiof?si=V1FJSJ0lTz2071FTDnFWvA
Its inspired me to see the impact our half hearted attempts at waste management are possibly having on the strength and diveraity of the nation’s industry.
Even basic recycling of things like plastics is not done well.
Government using contractors as part of the system is fine, but not having a system at all seems to be the problem. Government should at the very least be setting up effective frameworks for management, recycling and disposal of all types of waste. Instead they set up a few guidelines and leave it to “market forces” and wonder why we end up with dodgy systems geared towards profit for company owners at the expense of the health and safety of the general public and the workers involved in the industry.
In the past decade or so in Victoria alone there have been: warehouses full of soft plastic being stockpiled, warehouses full of contaminated “mixed recycling” being stockpiled, warehouses full of toxic chemicals stockpiled and being stored incorrectly, a massive property being used as an illegal dump for huge volumes of toxic waste being secretly buried, an old landfill site leaking dangerous levels of methane into houses in a nearby housing estate
These are just the ones that were big enough to be in the media that I can remember off the top of my head. This is what “market forces” and weak regulations get us
I dunno. Maybe because the average consumer doesn’t have nuclear waste sitting around their house that they can throw away in their trash?
I’d be more concerned about lithium fires from disposable vapes and other tiny electronics than a car battery. Most car batteries will be sent to off grid storage to squeeze the last life out of them. Then they’ll be recycled because the metals inside are worth a lot of money.
