Latest Spent nuclear fuel Stories

TOKYO, March 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- A research team led by Prof. Yoshiaki Oka of Waseda University has succeeded in developing a conceptual nuclear reactor design of high plutonium breeding by light-water cooling for the first time in the world. The team devised a new fuel assembly where fuel rods are closely packed for reducing a reactor coolant to a fraction of fuel volume for high breeding. Prof. Oka succeeded in high plutonium breeding by light-water cooling through...

In Seeking "Hurry Up" Outcome, NEI Even Urges NRC to Rely on Secret Papers That Cannot be Found by Agency; Industry Seeks to Undercut Serious Review of Reactor Pool Fires, Other Risks. WASHINGTON, Jan. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The nuclear industry's trade association - the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) - is pushing so hard to get the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to do a hurry-up version of a court-ordered environmental impact statement (EIS) on the long-term...

Rebuttal to Nuclear Energy Institute Filing Comes One Day Before Monthly NRC Public Meeting on Waste Issues; NEI Seen Undercutting Needed Research on Reactor Pool Fires, Other Issues. WASHINGTON, Jan. 14, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- One day before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) holds its monthly waste confidence rule public conference call, national and grassroots environmental groups from across the U.S. will file a rebuttal of claims made by the Nuclear Energy...

Incomplete Process Should Trigger Continued Suspension of All Reactor Licensing, Re-Licensing WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In documents filed Wednesday with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), a wide range of national and grassroots environmental groups said it would be impossible for the NRC to adequately conduct a court-ordered assessment of the environmental implications of long-term storage of spent nuclear reactor fuel in the two short years the...

Research by a team of Sandia chemists could impact worldwide efforts to produce clean, safe nuclear energy and reduce radioactive waste. The Sandia researchers have used metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to capture and remove volatile radioactive gas from spent nuclear fuel. “This is one of the first attempts to use a MOF for iodine capture,” said chemist Tina Nenoff of Sandia’s Surface and Interface Sciences Department. The discovery could be applied to nuclear fuel reprocessing or...

STOCKHOLM, November 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SKB International has signed a new agreement with Canadian NWMO, Nuclear Waste Management Organization, on the issue of managing spent nuclear fuel. The agreement reinforces SKB International's strategy to continue in its role as an important international player within safe management of spent nuclear fuel. The new agreement concerns the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Company's underground rock laboratory, the...

After Fukushima, it is now imperative to redefine what makes a successful nuclear power program - from cradle to grave. If nuclear waste management is not thought out from the beginning, the public in many countries will reject nuclear power as an energy choice, according to research that appears today in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by SAGE.According to Allison Macfarlane, associate professor of environmental science and policy at George Mason University, and a member of...

A novel way to immobilise radioactive forms of iodine using a microwave, has been discovered by an expert at the University of Sheffield.Iodine radioisotopes are produced by fission of uranium fuel in a nuclear reactor. Radioactive iodine is of concern because it is highly mobile in the environment and selective uptake by the thyroid gland can pose a significant cancer risk following long term exposure. Furthermore, iodine-129, which is a type of radioactive iodine, has an extremely long half...

Time has come revive long-dormant reprocessing programFailure to pursue a program for recycling spent nuclear fuel has put the U.S. far behind other countries and represents a missed opportunity to enhance the nation's energy security and influence other countries, the former chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Sunday.Dale Klein, Ph.D., Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Texas System, said largely unfounded concerns and "long-held myths" about...

Chinese scientists have successfully developed fuel reprocessing technology that will allow them to recycle exhausted nuclear fuel, various media outlets are reporting.According to Reuters, the system was developed and tested at the No. 404 Factory of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) in the Gobi Desert, and "enables the re-use of irradiated fuel and is able to boost the usage rate of uranium materials at nuclear plants by 60 folds."In fact, according to Chinese Central...