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.”

Shuler

WM Symposia, which hosts the annual Waste Management Conference in Phoenix, Ariz., presented the 2025 WM Lifetime Achievement Award to James M. Shuler, a former Department of Energy manager with a career of more than 50 years in radwaste packaging and transportation.

The award recognizes the long-term commitment of the recipient to solving major nuclear waste challenges, which may include education, research, public policy, or implementation of solutions for managing nuclear wastes, and whose actions have contributed to the resolution of significant nuclear waste management issues.

A flurry of amicus briefs from states, politicians, and special interest groups were filed with the U.S. Supreme Court this week, urging the court to uphold a 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that invalidated Interim Storage Partners' license for a consolidated interim storage facility for commercial spent nuclear fuel in Andrews County, Texas.

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.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced on January 16 that it has awarded a noncompetitive financial assistance agreement worth $37.5 million to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., to aid the department’s mission of cleaning up legacy nuclear waste.

The Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company (Svensk Kärnbränslehantering AB, or SKB) broke ground on its spent nuclear fuel repository near the Forsmark nuclear power plant on January 15. SKB, which is owned by Sweden’s nuclear power plants, expects the final repository will be ready for disposal in the 2030s, and will be fully extended in the 2080s.

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.

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.

Lujan

Legislation that aims to leverage the best available science and technology of U.S. national laboratories to support the cleanup of legacy nuclear waste has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D., N.M.).

The Combining Laboratory Expertise to Accelerate Novel Solutions for Minimizing Accumulated Radioactive Toxins (CLEAN SMART) Act, introduced on December 12, would codify and fund the Department of Energy to accelerate the development, demonstration, and deployment of breakthrough technologies and innovations for nuclear waste cleanup.

Legacy waste: Currently, the DOE’s Office of Environmental Management is responsible for the remediation of 15 legacy sites across the United States that hold nuclear waste from the Manhattan Project and the Cold War era. According to Luján, the cost to decommission these remaining sites continues to grow and is estimated to be nearly $700 billion, for a completion date near the end of the century.

Work to prepare Hanford’s Reduction Oxide Plant (REDOX) for decontamination and demolition has been put on hold as the Department of Energy shifts focus to higher-priority work at the nuclear site in Washington state.