Why Heads of U.S. Nuclear Industry Approve of Reprocessing

Reprocessing was banned under the Carter administration but Regan lifted the ban in the 80s. Reprocessing is one solution to the high-level nuclear waste problem the United States faces today. 

While President Reagan lifted President Carter’s ban on nuclear waste reprocessing, the United States has not initiated any legislation to bring it to the forefront of the nuclear fuel cycle here in America. But reprocessing, according to experts in the field, could be a cost effective solution for solving the nuclear waste problem in the states. It not only reduces the amount of high-level nuclear waste that will need to be permanently stored, but it squeezes out as much energy from nuclear materials as possible. 

France, Russia, and India have already been practicing reprocessing for years, with no incidents of nuclear proliferation. But back in the 1970s, the Carter adminstration had feared that exact issue and banned the practice. In 2021, with nuclear waste building up across the United States, one would think that the federal government would utilize this technology to solve the problem.

Rita Baranwal, the top U.S. Energy Department official on nuclear power, says that reprocessing should be the way to move forward instead of permanently storing usable nuclear power. She thinks nuclear reprocessing would help the country compete with China and Russia.