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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
D. C. Witt, R. F. Bradley
Nuclear Technology | Volume 43 | Number 2 | April 1979 | Pages 244-258
Technical Paper | The Back End of the Light Water Reactor Fuel Cycle / Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A16315
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
One alternative for closing the nuclear fuel cycle is efficient, high decontamination separation of uranium and plutonium and fabrication of a Pu-U mixed-oxide fuel Detailed flowsheets were prepared by Savannah River Laboratory for a conceptual 10 MT/day reprocessing facility. The generation of liquid waste and the associated liquid waste handling facilities for the reprocessing plant were defined. Over 40 individual waste streams were identified. The reference facility generates 6.4 m3 (1700 gal) of high-level liquid waste (HLLW) per day, which is converted to 0.5 m3 (130 gal) of glass contained in three packages, each 0.3 m (12 in.) in diameter × 3 m (10 ft) high. Each operating day, the process converts 2.9 m3 (775 gal) of concentrated intermediate-level liquid waste (ILLW) to 4 m3 (1050 gal) of cemented solid in 21 carbon steel drums. Large-scale underground tank storage of liquid waste is eliminated by prompt solidification of the HLLW and ILLW. Each container of glass contains 30 kW nuclear decay heat and must be stored in water for an interim period prior to shipment to a federal repository.