Rob Inglis finds problems with nuclear waste reprocessing, i.e. turning radioactive waste into other useful products. The economic snag:
Matthew Bunn calculates that the price of uranium would have to go higher than $360 per kilogram before reprocessing becomes cost-competitive. The current price of uranium is about $100 per kilogram—far below the level at which reprocessing could compete. What’s more, Bunn thinks that this price has been significantly inflated by short-term production bottlenecks and is likely to drop in the future.