March 2018

Nuclear Reactors 548 - Oak Ridge National Laboratory Develops New Method For Removing Americium From Spent Nuclear Fuel

        Spent nuclear fuel generates heat for decades and is radioactive for thousands of years. The used fuel is a combination of major actinides, fission products and minor actinides. Actinides are a group of 15 chemical elements with atomic numbers 89 to 103. The major actinides in used fuel are uranium and plutonium.

Nuclear Weapons 351 - U.S. And U.K. Are Collaborating On Technologies To Detect Nuclear Weapons Work

       The proliferation of nuclear weapons is a global concern and most nations with nuclear arsenals are working to reduce their own stockpiles of nuclear weapons while discouraging non-nuclear nations from obtaining nuclear weapons. India is having problems obtaining some nuclear technology from other nations because of fear that the tech might be repurposed to help develop nuclear weapons.

Radioactive Waste 334 - Holtec Design Changes For San Onofre Dry Casks Slows Decommissioning

      I have often blogged about the problem of spent nuclear fuel assemblies that are piling up in the cooling pools of U.S. nuclear reactors. There is no permanent geological repository for spent nuclear fuel in the U.S. The attempt to build such a repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada was cancelled in 2009 although there are members of Congress who are trying to get that project going again.

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