Eat My Shorts Nuclear Waste Recycling is the Future Man

The Feds Want Our Nuclear Junk

Hey what's up dudes and dudettes? It's Bart Simpson your friendly neighborhood… reporter? Turns out the Department of Energy (that's like the grown up version of Milhouse but with more power) wants someone to take all our old nuclear fuel. You know the stuff that glows green and makes fish have extra eyes? They wanna recycle it. I know right? Recycling is usually Lisa's thing but even I gotta admit this sounds kinda cool.

Nuclear Recycling: Eat My Shorts Fossil Fuels

So the deal is these guys at the DOE are asking states if they wanna build these things called "Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses." Sounds like something Professor Frink would cook up in his lab doesn't it? Apparently only about 5% of the good stuff in nuclear fuel gets used. The rest is just sitting there waiting for someone to turn it into… something else. And the idea is that we can recycle the stuff. This could be huge man. It's like turning lemons into lemonade except the lemons are radioactive and the lemonade probably glows. If you want to learn more about cool innovative ideas check out this article Obesity Pill Revolution Arrives New Hope or False Promise.

No More Yucca Mountain?

And get this if they do this all that used uranium won't have to go to Yucca Mountain. Yucca Mountain is like the ultimate timeout for nuclear waste but nobody wants it in their backyard right? This campus thing could have everything in one place. From making the fuel to recycling it plus maybe even some of those fancy new reactors and even data centers. Why data centers? I dunno probably so they can stream Itchy and Scratchy episodes 24/7. I could get behind that.

Money Money Money

Now here’s the kicker. This whole thing could bring in like $50 billion. That’s enough to buy a *lot* of Krusty Burgers. Apparently grown ups are finally figuring out that nuclear power is like super important especially with all the computers needing power. And some guy named Chris Wright – not the guy who drew me sadly – says this will "drive innovation fuel economic growth and create good paying American jobs." Sounds like a win win win to me.

Trump's Nuclear Dream (or Nightmare?)

Apparently President Trump is super into nuclear power. He wants to cut regulations and build a whole bunch of new reactors big and small. And he wants to do it fast. This whole nuclear thing is becoming the cornerstone of his energy policy. Which is weird because you'd think a guy who likes things big would want to stick with coal right?

Dozens of Nuclear Plants?

This Wright dude also said he wants to see “dozens of nuclear plants under construction” before he leaves office. Dozens. That’s a lot of glowing green stuff. Maybe Springfield can get a new one? Then again maybe not. I’m still not sure if Mr. Burns is entirely qualified to run a lemonade stand let alone a nuclear power plant. But hey if they need a safety inspector… I'm available. Ay caramba.