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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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
IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
Roald A. Wigeland, Theodore H. Bauer, Thomas H. Fanning, Edgar E. Morris
Nuclear Technology | Volume 154 | Number 1 | April 2006 | Pages 95-106
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT06-3
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper describes the results of a study that uses the thermal performance of the repository to establish chemical separations and transmutation criteria for commercial spent nuclear fuel of benefit to a geologic repository, as measured by the allowable increase in utilization of repository space. The method for determining the chemical elements to be separated is based on the thermal performance of the repository. The important chemical elements are identified, the order of importance of the separated elements is established, and the relationship between the efficiency of the chemical separation and the resulting increase in utilization is determined. The proposed repository at Yucca Mountain is used as an example of a geologic repository for the purposes of illustrating the magnitude of the benefits that are possible and the implications for repository size and operation. This work is being done in support of the U.S. Department of Energy Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, where numerous reactor, processing, and recycling strategies are being examined to determine the impact on issues important to the viability of nuclear electricity generation, including the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and nuclear waste.