The lethal legacy of Aukus nuclear submarines will remain for millennia – and there’s no plan to deal with it (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 4 days ago by maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zone to c/australia@aussie.zone

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For Australia’s proposed nuclear-powered submarine fleet there is, at present, nowhere for that radioactive spent fuel to go. As a non-nuclear country – and a party to the non-proliferation treaty – Australia has no history of, and no capacity for, managing high-level nuclear waste.

But Australia is not alone: there is no operational site anywhere on Earth for the permanent storage of high-level nuclear waste.

Documents released under freedom of information laws show that, beginning in the 2050s, each of Australia’s decommissioned Aukus submarines will generate both intermediate- and high-level radioactive waste: a reactor compartment and components “roughly the size of a four-wheel drive”; and spent nuclear fuel “roughly the size of a small hatchback”.

The Australian Submarine Agency says the exact amount of high-level waste Australia will be responsible for is “classified”.

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this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2025

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