Conversation

So, how old can nuclear power plants get?

PWRs, BWRs and CANDUs are the most commonly found nuclear reactors in the world, in that order. They're also amazingly longlasting. Units built in the 1970s are rated to run for at least 80 years today.

Get this: the reactor vessel of a PWR has no known upper age limit. We simply don't know. Is it a century? 150 years? Longer? We can keep replacing all the other parts, as long as the RPV is sound, it simply doesn't matter how long a reactor operates.

And a CANDU? You refurbish those every 30 years or so. Forever.

Here's a rule of thumb: if anyone tells you that a 40 year old plant is 'old', they have an agenda.

I'm not an artist, but it would be funny to make this script into a comic:

- Pane 1: "Hi there, I'm a fuel rod" "Hi there! I'm a PWR and I'm going to house you for the next five years"
- Pane 2: [after five years, a sad departure] "I'm going into storage for 300 years now, it was good knowing you 😭"
- Pane 3: the PWR just keep humming and humming and humming
- Pane 4: [300 years later] "Hi there, I'm a recycled piece of fuel and I'll be with you for five... wait, are you still around??" "Welcome home"

(Oh right, nuclear waste is not an actually existing problem)