Waste and clean-up

Nuclear Research: Waste Disposal Drivers
‘Waste Disposal Drivers for a Range of Nuclear Power Systems’ is my PhD title, but like many PhD titles, this doesn’t give much insight into what I actually do. In real words, the project involves quantitatively assessing five nuclear fuel cycles to draw comparisons between them, focusing on properties and masses of spent fuel, the […]

Nuclear Research: Minerals, Sulfide, and Radwaste Disposal
Nuclear and radiochemistry research is a diverse and unique field of study. This month we’ve asked some PhD students to summarise their research and how this may apply to the nuclear industry. Luke Townsend discusses his work on the ‘Long-term Fate of Radionuclides during Sulfidation’. When anyone mentions nuclear power, one of the first issues people […]

A GDF requires a community-government partnership
Nuclear power production is set to grow and grow. The International Atomic Energy Agency has continuously predicted expansions to our international nuclear capacity, recently estimating that it could increase up to 68% by 2030. This will unavoidably increase the waste produced, complicating further the onerous task of nuclear waste storage. The UK long-term strategy for […]

The U.K. needs a GDF
Nuclear waste is a problem. Specifically, we need to resolve the long-term storage and management of nuclear waste stockpiles in ways that reduce or negate their environmental impact – and it is irrelevant whether you are for or against nuclear power generation being part of the future energy portfolio of the UK, or indeed the […]

PODCAST: Honesty about nuclear power
This particular post is accompanied by a reading from the author. If you use this feature, please let me know your thoughts. approximate tracking: Point 1 – 0:27 | Point 2 – 1:25 | Point 3 – 4:16 | Point 4 – 6:35 | Point 5 – 12:40 | Point 6 – 14:35 A couple […]

Waste or resource?
Nuclear reactors don’t have to be water-cooled and solid-fuelled. The molten salt reactor is very different: it runs at higher temperature and lower pressure by dissolving the fuel in a liquid chloride or fluoride salt.[1] When these salts melt they flow in a similar way to water, which makes them great for storing and moving […]

Nuclear waste – ‘deep borehole’ or ‘geological repository’ disposal
This month I asked ‘What impact has nuclear waste had (or will have) on the environment?’ While the accidental release of radionuclides into the environment would certainly be a bad thing, numerous safeguards make this quite improbable. In fact the vast majority of the effect that nuclear waste has on the environment comes instead from […]