Features

The gel is applied to an area (left), where it is allowed to work for two to three hours before being removed. The final activity of the cleaned area (right) was counted using HPGe and Ludlum alpha/beta radiation detectors. Photos courtesy of ANL.

Current techniques for radiological decontamination often involve debasing or demolishing structures to contain contaminated dust and haul debris away. This is a costly method of decontaminating buildings and structures. If, however, effective nondestructive methods can be found, significant savings are possible. One such method, based on new research from engineers at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory in Lemont, Ill., is now available.

Participants to the 2017 Nuclear Criticality Safety Division topical meeting attended a tour of the WIPP facility, which marked its 20th anniversary this past year. Photos courtesy of WIPP

March 26, 2019, marked the 20th anniversary of the first shipment of transuranic (TRU) waste to the Waste -Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) facility in southeastern New Mexico. Celebrations of the 20-year mark of waste operations recognized the role of the WIPP facility in cleaning up legacy TRU waste from 22 generator sites nationwide.

The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board (NWTRB or Board) recently completed an evaluation of Department of Energy activities related to transporting spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste. These topics have been the subject of several Board meetings and associated reports, and in September 2019, the Board issued a report, Preparing for Nuclear Waste Transportation–Technical Issues That Need to Be Addressed in Preparing for a Nationwide Effort to Transport Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste [1], which focuses on the issues DOE will need to address to plan and implement an integrated transportation program. In its report, the Board describes 30 broad technical issues that DOE needs to address and offers three sets of findings and recommendations.

Advanced reactor cores are being designed for higher efficiencies and longer lifetimes, but to get there, they need high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU).

Enriched to between 5 and 19.75 percent fissile U-235, HALEU is packed with nuclear potential. It can be used as a feedstock for the demonstration of new fuel designs, from uranium alloys to ceramic pellets and liquid fuels. Those fuels can enable advanced reactor and microreactor demonstrations. Operating light-water reactors could potentially transition to HALEU uranium oxide fuels for extended operating cycles and improved plant economics.

A recent Nuclear News editorial raised the question, “Good news, anyone?” and cited a March Gallup poll as one sign of possible good news (NN, May 2019, p. 4). So, are we turning the corner on public perception of nuclear energy? The annual national survey conducted in April by Bisconti Research indicates that the answer is yes.