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Integrating Waste Management for Advanced Reactors: The Universal Canister System and Project UPWARDS
When the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy launched the Optimizing Nuclear Waste and Advanced Reactor Disposal Systems (ONWARDS) program in 2022, it posed a challenge that the nuclear industry had never seriously confronted before: how to design waste management solutions that anticipate the coming shift to advanced reactors and not merely retrofit existing systems built for an older generation of technology. The program’s objectives were ambitious—reduce disposal footprint, enable scalable pathways for unfamiliar waste streams, and build the technical foundations for future disposal—yet also tightly grounded in the realities of emerging nuclear fuel cycles. For the nuclear community, this was a timely call. Advanced reactors were accelerating toward deployment, but the waste management systems needed to support them had not kept pace.
Chansuh Lee, Kyungtae Lim, Man-Sung Yim
Nuclear Technology | Volume 212 | Number 1 | January 2026 | Pages 198-218
Regular Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2025.2462494
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Given the rise in global interest in nuclear energy, the spread of nuclear technological capabilities and their potential impact on nuclear nonproliferation are of significant interest. This study examines the utility of open-source international trade data along with demand and supply-side data as a means by which to assess the potential nuclear proliferation risk related to nuclear power development. The proliferation risk assessment involves the use of machine learning, deep learning, traditional econometric methods, and big data. The results of the analysis indicated that using trade data can assist with nuclear proliferation risk predictions. Key items of importance in relation to nuclear trade were found to be the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS) code 360300 (explosives for signaling, the most significant feature), followed by HS codes 282590 (inorganic bases) and 841350 (reciprocating positive displacement pumps for liquids). Other important items were HS codes 722810 (stainless steel products), 391721 (tubes, pipes, and hoses of plastic), 840120 (nuclear reactors and their parts), and 722830 (bars and rods of alloy steel).