1. Yes (in some areas)
2. Yes, we do. There are entire reactors designed to reuse spent nuclear fuel and turn it into isotopes that decay on a different time span than current nuclear fuel.
Fusion is known for always being 25 years away. It's problematic to try and recreate the process on the sun by using a large magnetic field and an enclosed volume to simulate what gravity does for the stars.
Solar panels like with a lot of renewable energy sources are dependent on rare earth elements that are almost entirely mined by China (seriously, like over 90% of the total supply for them is from China). If you want the Western world to feel nice and green, you are gonna have to ignore the barren craters that the unregulated Chinese mining will create all over their pristine wilderness.
Bookmarks