The Way Forward in the US: Nuclear Waste Management

Many innovative nuclear fuel cycle schemes are being considered by researchers and designers aiming at lowering the amount of High Level Waste generated per unit of electricity produced. These could be deployed to support the operation of current/future nuclear power plants in order to achieve a significant reduction in the amount of high-level radioactive waste requiring geologic disposal, to reduce significantly accumulated plutonium in civilian spent fuel, and to extract more useful energy from nuclear fuel. More generally, the sustainable development of nuclear energy is linked to the development of innovative fuel cycle technologies as well as reactor technologies. However, such a development will be threatened, unless the problem of declining number of university courses associated with it, and the declining interest among students for it, is addressed.