U.K. to study waste encapsulation in new eco-friendly cement

March 28, 2025, 7:01AMRadwaste Solutions
Researchers at the University of Sheffield are exploring new cement technologies to safely encapsulate nuclear waste. (Photo: University of Sheffield)

The University of Sheffield announced that it has engaged in a new £1 million (about $1.29 million) research partnership with Sellafield Ltd., the U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, and the U.K. National Nuclear Laboratory that will seek to address some of the challenges of nuclear waste encapsulation by looking at new cement technologies to provide safe and reliable disposal solutions.

NWTRB asks DOE, Congress to take action on geologic repository

March 26, 2025, 7:35AMRadwaste Solutions
Image: NWTRB

The Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board has recommended to the Department of Energy and Congress that they work together “to create a workable pathway to site, license, construct, and operate a geologic repository for the permanent disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste.”

Document to preserve Swedish repository information across generations

March 10, 2025, 9:32AMRadwaste Solutions
The KIF document is meant to engage the reader to share, imagine, and renew nuclear waste information. (Photo: Per Wistbo Nibell)

The preservation of records, knowledge, and memory is recognized as an important component of nuclear waste management, preventing future generations from unnecessary interference with a waste repository and supporting future societies to make informed decisions about such sites.

WIPP completes commissioning of new ventilation system

March 7, 2025, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions
HEPA filters located within the Safety Significant Confinement Ventilation System facility at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced that it has completed the commissioning of a new, nearly $500 million, large-scale ventilation system at its Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, the DOE’s geologic repository for defense-related transuranic waste in New Mexico.

Supreme Court justices hear arguments in NRC v. Texas

March 6, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
The U.S. Supreme Court. Front row, from left: Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., and Associate Justice Elena Kagan. Back row, from left: Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Associate Justice Neil M. Gorsuch, Associate Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh, and Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. (Photo: Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States)

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Wednesday in the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing of Interim Storage Partners consolidated interim storage facility in Andrews County, Texas. Both the NRC and ISP petitioned the Supreme Court to review a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that invalidated the NRC-granted license for the facility. Those two cases were consolidated into one, NRC v. Texas, which was heard by the court.

Moltex demonstrates its WATSS fuel recycling process

March 5, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
Concept art of Moltex’s SSR–W and WATSS facility. (Image: Moltex)

Advanced reactor company Moltex Energy Canada said it has successfully validated its waste to stable salt (WATSS) process on used nuclear fuel bundles from an unnamed Canadian commercial reactor through hot cell experiments conducted by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.

Capping work begins on U.K.’s LLW disposal facility

February 27, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
Aggregate is delivered by rail to the U.K.’s Low-Level Waste Repository site. (Photo: NWS)

Nuclear Waste Services (NWS), which manages the disposal of the United Kingdom’s low-level radioactive waste, announced this week that a major milestone has been reached at its Low Level Waste Repository in West Cumbria, England, as work begins on the final capping of legacy disposal trenches and vaults at the site.

NDA funds Plutonium Ceramics Academic Hub with U.K. universities

February 26, 2025, 7:02AMNuclear News
The nuclear fuel reprocessing plant product store at Sellafield. (Photo: NDA)

The United Kingdom’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has announced that it will establish a Plutonium Ceramics Academic Hub with the Universities of Manchester and Sheffield. The announcement follows a decision by the U.K. government in January to immobilize the country’s inventory of civil separated plutonium at the Sellafield nuclear site, mitigating the material’s long-term safety and security risks.

NRC report updates decommissioning cost guidance

February 19, 2025, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has updated its guidance for nuclear power plant owners and operators in estimating the cost of decommissioning their reactors. Licensed power reactor operators are required under NRC regulations to annually adjust the estimated costs (in current year U.S. dollars) of decommissioning their plants to ensure that adequate funds are available when needed.

U.K. narrows focus of disposal facility to three potential sites

February 3, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
A rendering of a possible geologic disposal facility on the coast of northwest England. (Image: NWS)

The U.K. government’s Nuclear Waste Services said it has identified three “areas of focus” in its search to find a suitable site and a willing community to host a geologic disposal facility (GDF) for the country’s most hazardous radioactive waste. The areas are within three communities currently involved in the siting process—Mid Copeland and South Copeland in Cumbria, and East Lincolnshire, England.

STUK on track to issue statement on Finnish repository this year

January 28, 2025, 9:25AMRadwaste Solutions
The site of the Onkalo deep geological repository in Finland, with the Olkiluoto nuclear power plant in the background. (Photo: Posiva)

Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK) stated that if everything goes well, it can complete the assessment of the operating license for the country’s deep geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel “well before the end of the year.”

Bulletin article argues for more certainty in advanced reactor waste management

January 23, 2025, 7:00AMRadwaste Solutions

A recent Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists article cautions that uncertainty regarding the management of wastes generated by small and advanced reactors could drive up costs, making them uncompetitive with existing light water reactor technology.

Comments received on Hanford’s tank waste plans

January 7, 2025, 9:30AMRadwaste Solutions
Testing is conducted at the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy has agreed to hold a 30-day review and comment period on a draft environmental analysis associated with a proposed plan for retrieving, grouting, and transporting some of Hanford’s low-activity tank waste for out-of-state disposal.

GAO: NNSA needs to improve its waste management strategy

December 19, 2024, 12:00PMRadwaste Solutions

The National Nuclear Security Administration’s strategy for managing nuclear waste from nuclear weapons maintenance and modernization activities is not comprehensive and does not fully address all statutory requirements, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

Nuclear News publishing themes for 2025

December 19, 2024, 7:00AMANS News

It's been another successful publishing year for the American Nuclear Society's Nuclear News, Radwaste Solutions, the online Nuclear Newswire, and the NN Daily newsletter.

For Nuclear News, below are the publishing themes for 2025.

If you have story ideas for any of these themes or for Radwaste Solutions, please contact Nucnews@ans.org.

Groundwater demonstration begins on Oak Ridge disposal facility project

December 13, 2024, 7:14AMRadwaste Solutions
An aerial view of the Environmental Management Disposal Facility project site at Oak Ridge. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge (UCOR) have finished fieldwork and have begun monitoring groundwater elevations for a study at the Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) project site in Tennessee.

Idaho finds solutions to challenges posed by aging waste drums

December 11, 2024, 9:32AMRadwaste Solutions
ICP crews inspect transuranic waste drums to ensure they comply with shipping requirements. (Photo: DOE)

The Department of Energy’s Idaho Cleanup Project (ICP) has improved transuranic waste operations to address aging waste containers being stored at the Advanced Mixed Waste Treatment Project (AMWTP) at the Idaho National Laboratory Site, the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management announced on December 10.

Finland’s Onkalo repository licensing gets stuck again

December 5, 2024, 3:05PMRadwaste Solutions
The Onkalo geologic repository in Finland. (Photo: Posiva)

Finland’s regulatory authority, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), announced that it was further delaying issuing a statement on the safety case for the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository until 2025, saying that Posiva’s license application material is not yet ready.