New U of S research could change the way nuclear waste is contained

Researchers at the University of Saskatchewan are developing a new way to contain nuclear waste.

Currently the most common method among companies and governments around the world is vitrification, which works by incorporating nuclear waste into glass.

An issue commonly faced with that method is that many of the different elements that are found in spent or used nuclear fuel have varying sizes. Small elements can be easily fit into glass, but larger elements cannot be contained.

At the U of S, researchers have created a method that combines different materials, creating a new storage method that’s more versatile and efficient, no matter the size of the waste.

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Andrew Grosvenor, one of the U of S researchers, said the method is best described as a chocolate chip cookie.

“Think of it like a chocolate chip cookie where the dough is the glass and the crystallites of the crystalline material are the chocolate chips,” he told The Evan Bray Show.

“By tailoring the structure of that crystalline material, we can incorporate large quantities of those large waste elements with the smaller waste elements now going into the glass space, so it allows for increased loading of nuclear waste into the material.”

As of right now, a majority of the nuclear waste on the planet is stored in above-ground facilities, but that could soon change, according to Grosvenor.

“Moving into the future, many nations are focusing on a deep geological repository, meaning placing your waste material that is well contained deep underground in something that would look like a simple shaft mine like the many mines we have in Canada,” said Grosvenor.

Earlier this year, SaskPower and nuclear reactor provider GE Hitachi signed an agreement to collaborate on a project planning for a small modular reactor.

SaskPower chose the GE Hitachi BWRX-300 in 2022 to advance its SMR project, citing safety, fuel type, and costs as reasons behind the decision.

The province’s current grid capacity is around 5,400 megawatts, and SaskPower is forecasting a grid in the 13,000- to 15,000-megawatt range by 2050. The BWRX-300 roughly produces 300 megawatts from one single unit.