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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.
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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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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
Joonhong Ahn, Myeongguk Cheon, Ehud Greenspan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 158 | Number 3 | June 2007 | Pages 408-430
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3851
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have developed a computation tool, WAste COMposition (WACOM) for performing a scoping study of the effects of the accelerator-driven transmutation of waste (ATW) system with a lead-bismuth-eutectic-cooled transmuter on actinide inventory and radiotoxicity reduction. WACOM consists of a simplified burnup model for a chain of 18 actinide isotopes and a fuel cycle model to evaluate high-level waste (HLW) generation from the reference ATW plant. Interpolation formulas for effective one-group cross sections as a function of the actinide mass fraction have been developed. Three kinds of HLW generation were considered: (a) HLW from uranium separation for light water reactor (LWR) spent fuel, (b) HLW from the partitioning process in multicycle ATW operation, and (c) the last core of the transmuter at the decommissioning of the ATW system. The latter two HLW sources resulting from multicycle ATW operation have been found to be greater than the first source. Potential benefits of ATW deployment have been found to be (a) reduction of the total actinide toxicity by a factor of 48 at the time of waste generation and (b) conversion of the actinide mixture into a more proliferation-resistant configuration, by effective transmutation of 239Pu, 241Am, and 237Np included in the LWR spent fuel. The total actinide radiotoxicity further decreases to 1/260 for the time period of 100 000 yr, which would improve the performance of the Yucca Mountain Repository.
