The Savannah River Site in South Carolina will begin a leak-tightness test to qualify the megavolume Saltstone Disposal Unit (SDU) 10 to store up to 33 million gallons of solidified, decontaminated salt solution produced at the site.

The International Tunnelling and Underground Space Association (ITA), a nongovernmental organization made up of 81 member states working to advance the safe, beneficial use of subsurface spaces, is working with the International Atomic Energy Agency to support the advancement of geologic disposal facilities for high-level radioactive waste.

The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management and its contractor Bechtel announced on October 15 the start of nuclear vitrification operations at the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant (WTP), also known as the Vit Plant, at the Hanford Site in Washington state.

Nuclear waste disposal technology company Deep Isolation is asking that the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) consider how spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste will be managed under its strategy for developing advanced nuclear power projects in participating states.

The American Nuclear Society has sent a letter to Energy Secretary Chris Wright with a set of recommendations for the Department of Energy to take to establish an effective national program to manage the storage, reprocessing, and final disposal of U.S. commercial used nuclear fuel.

Holtec International has confirmed it is canceling plans to build a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel in southeastern New Mexico. Named the HI-STORE CISF, the facility would have stored up to 10,000 canisters of commercial SNF on land owned by the Eddy-Lea Energy Alliance (ELEA) near the towns of Carlsbad and Hobbs.

When the Department of Energy’s Office of Legacy Management recently faced an operational challenge at the Rifle Disposal Site in Colorado, it took subject matter experts across a wide array of disciplines to tackle it.

When it comes to decision-making, public participation and community engagement are not the same thing. The structure and content of meetings to enable public participation in project decision-making can be staid, stale, and staged. The approach can be formulaic and reactionary: “We have a decision to make; we’ve narrowed down the alternatives … let’s prepare the scripts, posters, and presentations, gather our materials, book a room, coach the presenters on how to be succinct, identify people to staff the kiosks, contact the community members and regulatory staff we usually contact, and let’s have a public meeting! Once we get this over with, we can finally build our project, demolish that building, clean up this site, etc.” Not so fast.

The Idaho National Laboratory Site has long played an essential part in American nuclear reactor research and development activities. It is also a cornerstone of the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. The Naval Reactors Facility (NRF) on the INL Site, located in southeastern Idaho, was home to three historic land-based naval reactor prototypes—the Submarine 1st Generation Westinghouse (S1W) prototype, the Aircraft Carrier 1st Generation Westinghouse (A1W) prototype, and the Submarine 5th Generation General Electric (S5G) prototype—that facilitated critical training for naval personnel and testing that helped develop the U.S. Navy’s nuclear fleet.

Starting in 1966, the Western New York Nuclear Service Center (WNYNSC)—comprising 3,300 acres of land in the town of Ashford, N.Y.—was used for the commercial reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel. Reprocessing was conducted in the Main Plant Process Building (MPPB) until 1972 when commercial operations ceased and were never resumed. Now, 50 years later, modern 3D modeling technology is ensuring that the MPPB can be demolished in a safe and effective manner, minimizing risk to the environment and the workers.