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2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Groundwater data pave the way for Environmental Management Disposal Facility at Oak Ridge
Results of a two-year study of groundwater levels at the site of the planned Environmental Management Disposal Facility (EMDF) in Oak Ridge, Tenn., have been released, revealing that the levels fell at a slower-than-expected rate. The collection of data on groundwater levels during two wet seasons, conducted by the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management and the contractor United Cleanup Oak Ridge, formed the core of a groundwater field demonstration study which will help inform the final design of the EMDF landfill.
Steven Krahn, Timothy Ault, Bethany Burkhardt (Vanderbilt Univ), Andrew Sowder (EPRI)
Proceedings | 16th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM 2017) | Charlotte, NC, April 9-13, 2017 | Pages 217-223
Subject matter expertise has been applied to support a preliminary roadmapping exercise for the near-term implementation of thorium fuel cycles. Background presentations and a panel-facilitated discussion were used as mechanisms to identify and document key implementation challenges in the areas of resources, fuels, reactors, reprocessing/recycle, and safeguards. Participants identified the challenges which they believed should receive the greatest priority in terms of deploying thorium commercially. Reactor-related challenges were deemed to be the most important, followed by those related to reprocessing/recycle and fuels. Individual challenges that were deemed to merit a particularly high priority included fuel qualification, reactor code development and assessment, remote fuel fabrication, and reprocessing flowsheet optimization. These priorities build on those documented in other assessments.