Bulgarian dependence on nuclear energy has produced a hot problem — how to dispose of spent nuclear fuel.
The BBC reports that although nuclear power keeps Bulgaria’s carbon emissions down, it also creates tons of toxic waste that will remain radioactive far into the future.
Some of the waste goes temporarily to Russia, but after reprocessing and a ten-year waiting period gets returned to its source.
For this reason, and increasing transport costs, other Eastern European countries no longer work with Russia — but Bulgaria is running out of room in-country to store the spent fuel produced by its two active nuclear plants.
So far, the problem has not caused Bulgaria to rethink the way it produces electricity.
One officials told the BBC that nuclear power is the only way to produce the quantities of energy needed nationwide.
–Ronnie Lovler/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Bulgaria’s Nuclear Dilemma”
BBC, February 26, 2009