nuclear waste

Many experts believe small modular reactors (SMRs), which are generally classified as nuclear power reactors with an electrical output of 300 MW or less, offer great promise for supplying the world with carbon-free energy. Several SMR designs are under development by companies around the world including NuScale Power, GE-Hitachi, Terrestrial Energy, TerraPower, Toshiba, X-energy, and […]

Advanced nuclear energy can, and should, play a major role in meeting the societal goal of 100% clean energy by mid-century. Advanced nuclear energy would complement other energy sources like wind and solar

The Department of Energy (DOE) has initiated community outreach to facilitate consent-based siting, management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), and interim storage facility siting. The effort, outlined in a series of steps the DOE expects to take in response to a recent request for public input, marks a significant first step toward advancing the agency’s […]

A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, based on research from Stanford University and the University of British Columbia, addressed the problem of nuclear waste from small modular reactors (SMRs). The study said that many designs for SMRs would increase the amount of nuclear waste in need of disposal, […]

Sweden’s government in late January gave radioactive waste management company Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB (SKB) the green light to proceed with a deep geological repository (DGR) for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) at a site near Vattenfall’s 3.2-GW Forsmark nuclear power plant. The milestone, which wraps up a planning process that has taken more than 40 years, makes Sweden only the second country, after Finland, to take active steps on building a permanent SNF repository.

Handing a muted victory to proponents of nuclear and gas, the European Commission (EC) on Feb. 2 adopted a measure that labels some nuclear and gas energy activity as climate-friendly investments. However, it set out strict, potentially limiting technical screening criteria for those activities to qualify, prompting pushback from the nuclear and gas industries. The […]

Since the inception of the nuclear era more than 70 years ago, federal taxpayers have been bailing out nuclear power plants and keeping the industry afloat with endless, costly subsidies. Yet, the industry is

Potentially jumpstarting long-paralyzed efforts to address the federal management of spent nuclear fuel (SNF), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Nov. 30 issued a request for information (RFI) that could determine where the agency will temporarily consolidate and store spent fuel from nuclear reactors across the nation. Under the RFI, the DOE is seeking […]

Nuclear power opponents often point to radioactive waste as one of their main concerns. However, most people don’t realize that problems associated with long-lived waste can actually be solved in an economic way with technology that’s already well-proven. Long-lived actinides can be “burned” in a thorium molten salt reactor (MSR), or a breeder reactor. They […]

Federal regulators have approved a private company’s plan to store nuclear waste in the oil fields of West Texas, the latest move in the continuing saga of where to store spent fuel from U.S. nuclear power plants. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) on Sept. 13 issued a license to Interim Storage Partners LLC (ISP), […]