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The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Latest News
Take steps on SNF and HLW disposal
Matt Bowen
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 years. One element of the forthcoming discussion seems clear: The executive and legislative branches are eager to talk about recycling commercial SNF. Whatever the merits of doing so, it does not obviate the need for one or more facilities for disposal of remaining long-lived radionuclides. For that reason, making progress on U.S. disposal capabilities remains urgent, lest the associated radionuclide inventories simply be left for future generations to deal with.
In March, Rick Perry, who was secretary of energy during President Trump’s first administration, observed that during his tenure at the Department of Energy it became clear to him that any plan to move SNF “required some practical consent of the receiving state and local community.”1
H. F. Anderson, J. L. Everhart, D. L. Hobrock, P. W. Seabaugh
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 1120-1126
Tritium Properties and Interaction with Material | Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology In Fission, Fusion, and Isotopic Applications Belgirate, Italy May 28-June 3, 1995 | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30557
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An experiment is proposed in which a minimum of thirty (30) grams of tritium is packaged as lithium tritide in a steel container weighing several kilograms. After decontamination of the outside surface, calorimetry measurements would be made, and the unit would be weighed very accurately. After several decades, the calorimeter and weight measurements would be repeated. If the weight measurements could be made with the required accuracy, it would be possible to correlate the observed change in mass with the total energy emitted (calculated from the mean energy measured by calorimetry) over the time interval. If successful, this experiment would, in the opinion of the authors, be the first laboratory experiment to directly verify the equivalency of mass and energy.
