[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-22-2022).]

There's some recycling of wind turbine blades already, although that photograph cannot be denied. Many tons of discarded wind turbine blades have already become un-recycled solid waste all around the world. In October, the U.S. Department of Energy put a spotlight on a company called "Carbon Rivers", which is already in the planning stage for a new pyrolysis-based glass fiber and composites recycling facility near Knoxville,

quote The planned facility is expected to process approximately 200 metric tons, or 5,000–7,000 fiberglass wind turbine blades each year, depending on blade size and generation. The recovered fiberglass can then be directed into new composites production. Carbon Rivers’ recycling uses pyrolysis—a process during which organic components of a composite (e.g., resins or polymers) are broken down with intense heat in the absence of oxygen and separated from the inorganic fiberglass reinforcement. The process converts organic products back into raw hydrocarbon products called syngas and pyrolysis oil, which can be used for energy production. This gives the process a net positive energy output. The separated recycled glass fiber can then be cleaned and collected for direct reuse in the manufacturing of new products. Carbon Rivers has achieved 99.9% recycled glass fiber purity from different end-of-life waste streams like wind turbine blades. The complete elimination of contaminants, along with high recoverable fiber aspect ratio and performance allows recycled glass fiber to displace virgin fiberglass in different composite applications. The high purity also opens the potential for remelting—allowing recycled glass fiber to be incorporated into virgin fiberglass, thereby closing the material loop and creating a circular economy.

Clean glass fiber. Photo Credit: Carbon River LLC

"Carbon Rivers Makes Wind Turbine Blade Recycling and Upcycling a Reality With Support From DOE"
Wind Energy Technologies Office; October 17, 2022.
https://www.energy.gov/eere...ling-reality-support

As far as these "Gen-4" nuclear reactors, some researchers affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania at Philadelphia weighed in recently with some truly bone-chilling warnings; to wit:

quote Small modular reactors (SMRs), proposed as the future of nuclear energy, have purported cost and safety advantages over existing gigawatt-scale light water reactors (LWRs). However, few studies have assessed the implications of SMRs for the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle. The low-, intermediate-, and high-level waste stream characterization presented here reveals that SMRs will produce more voluminous and chemically/physically reactive waste than LWRs, which will impact options for the management and disposal of this waste. Although the analysis focuses on only three of dozens of proposed SMR designs, the intrinsically higher neutron leakage associated with SMRs suggests that most designs are inferior to LWRs with respect to the generation, management, and final disposal of key radionuclides in nuclear waste.

"Nuclear waste from small modular reactors"
Lindsay M. Krall, et al; May 31, 2022.
https://www.pnas.org/doi/fu...1073/pnas.2111833119

Is that the last word on the topic? I doubt it. I'm not saying I'm against these Gen-4 or Small Modular Reactors, myself. I'm just sayin'...

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-23-2022).]

"Cleanup is underway for the US’s second-largest tar sands oil spill. Experts say it’ll be harder than past leaks."

quote The second-largest tar sands oil spill in the country — which left a black pockmark on Kansas grasslands a few weeks ago — will be harder to clean compared to past oil spills. In early December, nearly 14,000 barrels of oil known as diluted bitumen ["dilbit"] spilled in north-central Kansas, three hours outside of Kansas City, Kansas. The cleanup is still underway, with at least 4,000 barrels now cleared from a waterway known as Mill Creek. But as time goes on, environmentalists and infrastructure experts worry about the oil that will be more difficult to clean. . . . According to a report from the National Academy of Sciences, [diluted bitumen] is harder to clean, coats and adheres to landscapes and animals more than other crude oils, and has a smaller window of opportunity for proper cleanup. This study was commissioned by Congress after the infamous 2010 Kalamazoo, Michigan oil spill, where nearly 42,000 barrels of dilbit spilled into a tributary of the Kalamazoo River from an Enbridge-operated pipeline. This oil spill, which took four years and billions of dollars to clean up while also prompting the evacuation of hundreds of homes, was the worst tar sands oil spill in the nation’s history. So far, 71 fish and four mammals have been confirmed killed in the Kansas oil spill, with one beaver saved by rescue crews, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA. After the initial spill, TC Energy created two dams to prevent any continued spread and has since been working to remove the tar sands oil from surface water. According to the EPA, no drinking water wells were affected by the spill, but the federal agency and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment have urged people and animals to avoid the contaminated creek. . . .

John McCracken for The Grist; December 16, 2022.
https://grist.org/accountab...-spill-harder-clean/

Oh, where were we... something about electric vehicles.

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-24-2022).]

[This message has been edited by rinselberg (edited 12-25-2022).]