Below the layers of Yucca Mountain
A retired USGS geologist shares his experience of working on the publicly misunderstood nuclear waste repository and its geology.

A retired USGS geologist shares his experience of working on the publicly misunderstood nuclear waste repository and its geology.
Take steps on SNF and HLW disposal
With a new administration and Congress, it is time once again to ponder what will happen—if anything—on U.S. spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management policy over the next few...
West Valley completes teardown of Main Plant Process Building
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and its cleanup contractor CH2M Hill BWXT West Valley (CHBWV) completed the on-time removal of the Main Plant Process Building...
Hanford teams prepare for first tank waste transfer
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management said that crews at its Hanford Site in Washington state are preparing for the site’s first-ever transfer of radioactive waste...
Contractor selected for Belgian LLW/ILW facility
Brussels-based construction group Besix announced that is has been chosen by the Belgian agency for radioactive waste management ONDRAF/NIRAS for construction of the country’s surface...
Scientific mission to track radwaste barrels on Atlantic seabed
A scientific mission led by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) set sail this past weekend in the Northeast Atlantic to investigate the long-term impacts of radioactive...
“Today’s Challenge, Tomorrow’s Promise”
The title for this year’s waste management issue of Nuclear News is, in my opinion, the perfect framing to consider spent fuel and waste management as we know it now and how we imagine it...
Argonne, Fermilab awarded $10M for spent fuel transmutation research
Argonne National Laboratory said it has secured just over $10 million from the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) for two research projects...
Canada prepares for second geologic repository search
The Nuclear Waste Management Organization, which is mandated by law to develop an approach for the long-term care of Canada’s spent nuclear fuel, has begun collecting feedback from Canadians...
U.K. community withdraws from disposal facility siting process
The community of Lincolnshire in eastern England voted on June 3 to withdraw from consideration to host a deep geologic repository for high-level radioactive waste. Lincolnshire was one of...
Hanford advances WTP cold commissioning with introduction of waste simulants
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management announced that it has introduced waste simulant chemicals to the Hanford Site’s Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP)...