
ALT Based on estimations by the World Nuclear Association and the International Atomic Energy Agency we can assume roughly 460,000 tonnes of used fuel has been discharged from commercial power reactors so far. 30% of this spent fuel has been reprocessed, which is not taken into account for this visualization. On the flipside, this amount would require a bigger volume for dry cask shielding so the calculated volume in this thought exercise can reasonably be argued for. The nuclear fuel used in most commercial nuclear power plants consists of uranium dioxide (UO2), which we use as a proxy here. Assuming a UO2 density of 10.97 metric tonnes per cubic meter and a weight of the 460,000 metric tonnes we arrive at a volume of approximately 41,945 cubic meters. That volume would give rise to a simple cube measuring roughly 34.75 meters on each side. Source: 🔗 https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/fuel-recycling/processing-of-used-nuclear-fuel.aspx













