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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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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
R. L. Hamner, R. L. Pilloton, T. M. Kegley
Nuclear Technology | Volume 3 | Number 5 | May 1967 | Pages 287-293
Technical Paper and Note | doi.org/10.13182/NT67-A27887
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A process, developed for preparing dense, spherical particles of ThC2 and (Th,U)C2, consists of heating dense sol-gel oxide microspheres with lampblack in a rotating crucible under a flow of argon at 1900 to 2200°C. A precise rotational speed and a special crucible design were necessary to maintain good oxide-to-carbon contact, and to prevent the particles from sintering together and bonding to the crucible wall. The products have a high degree of sphericity and surface smoothness, depending upon the starting sol-gel oxide microspheres. The principal advantages of this process over others currently used are: 1) no elaborate blending techniques of oxide and carbon are required; 2) no densification or spheroidization step is required after the reduction reaction; and 3) the temperature of the process is lower than that of many spheroidization methods.
