This morning I presented pathways to decarbonise existing coal, oil and gas by 2050 through a range of cost-competitive, fast-to-deploy highly scalable options. The first question i got, and always get, is “What about the waste?”

Here’s my answer. Firstly, the cost of managing spent fuel is a marginal cost, and we add really good at it - there has never been any harm caused to people or nature by civil nuclear spent fuel. Secondly, we expect that spent fuel would (and should) be recycled.

Thirdly, can we all please remember that waste from fossil fuels is today causing 4 million premature deaths per year (air pollution) AND potentially catastrophic climate change. This is the public health environmental disaster we should be focused on.

Disproportionate focus on nuclear spent fuel is enabling continued harm from fossil fuels.

To a follow up question about whether the cost is included in our analysis, here is my answer.