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Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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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Nuclear Technology
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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. Thomas Blair
Nuclear Technology | Volume 49 | Number 2 | July 1980 | Pages 267-273
Nuclear Fuel Cycle | Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT80-A32489
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A full-scale nonradioactive in-can melter became operational at Pacific Northwest Laboratory in April of 1977. The furnace has six independently controlled hot zones capable of providing 30 kW each at 1200°C and is able to accommodate cans up to 710 mm (28 in.) in diameter and 2.3 m (7ft) tall. New design concepts such as placing the entire can inside the furnace, supporting the can from the bottom, and charging the in-can melter through a water-cooled spout were demonstrated with this equipment. These new concepts have resulted in the elimination both of accumulations of the materials to be melted (batch) on top of the heat-transfer plates in the cans and of unvitrified waste in the top of the can. Melting rates of 100 kg/h (220 lb/h) were attained in 610-mm-diam (24-in.-diam) cans using test batches composed of calcined simulated waste from a nitric acid solution combined with borosilicate glass-forming frit. A 10-day continuous run was made in conjunction with a heated-wall spray calciner to demonstrate the reliability and operability of the equipment. Control of the in-can melting process using only remote monitoring equipment not attached to the can was also demonstrated.
