Using Existing Nuclear Waste, Scientists Say They Can Power The World Until 2083

Nuclear waste usually only makes the news when we find out it's leaking or causing other sorts of worrying problems, but some potentially good news has emerged from the toxic sludge.

A team of scientists at Transatomic Power, a nuclear reactor design company with affiliation to MIT, claim to have developed a highly-meltdown-resistant reactor that runs on nuclear waste.

Though the reactor only exists on paper and Transatomic Power will still need to secure some $200 million in funding, their design for a "Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor" will convert high-level nuclear waste into electric power with extreme efficiency.

"What we call nuclear waste isn't actually waste at all." said Mark Massie, one of the WAMSR's designers.

There are nearly 270,000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste that exist in the world today. The United States produces about 2,000 metric tons of nuclear waste annually, keeping it in storage at places like Hanford Nuclear Reservation and Yucca Mountain.

The WAMSR can reportedly run entirely on the nuclear waste produced by conventional light water reactors.

"We can take that waste, put it into our reactors and produce enough electricity to power the entire world for 72 years, and that even taking into account increasing demand," said project designer Leslie Dewan.

While some counties like Germany are looking to eliminate nuclear energy from their lands, other countries, such as China, are heavily embracing nuclear power.

In fact, Transatomic Power's biggest challenge may come from China, where some $350 million is being invested over the next five years to build molten salt reactors of its own, according to a report by TechnologyToday.

Check out Dewan and Massie in the TED Talk below for further details about thier design.