As this statistic indicates the amount of waste produced per unit of energy, a

lower efficiency value is more desirable.

Nuclear waste is an environmental concern as radioactivity can cause serious health

effects including: cancers, birth defects, sterility, genetic damage and lowered immunity to

diseases especially at high levels of exposure.

Nuclear waste is highly radioactive and needs to be isolated from people and the

enviroment for around 10 000 years. After this time the radiation level has reduced and the

waste is considered safe. Spent fuel is usually contained in concrete or steel containers,

or in cooling pools.

Nuclear waste can be reprocessed to extract and recycle Uranium and Plutonium. Great

Britain, France, Japan and Germany currently reprocess some of their nuclear waste.