AI Summary
5 min readShayle Kann interviews Dr. Jen Schaefer, a professor at the Colorado School of Mines with prior experience at the Department of Energy and Pacific Northwest National Lab, about spent nuclear fuel—often called waste—in the context of expanding U.S. nuclear power. They clarify its composition, current handling, differences across reactor designs, and stalled disposal plans, emphasizing that while 95% is reusable uranium, the remaining 5% drives long-term management needs.
Composition of spent nuclear fuel
Spent nuclear fuel from U.S. commercial reactors is uranium dioxide ceramic pellets, similar to a coffee mug material, encased in fuel rods. It comprises about 95% uranium (mostly unreacted) plus transmutation products like plutonium, neptunium, and americium—known as actinides or minor actinides. The other 5% consists of fission products, such as transition metals, lanthanides, and isotopes like technetium-99 or iodine-129.
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What you'll learn
- 1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Dr. Jen Schaefer**
- 2 (03:20) **What is Nuclear Waste?**
- 3 (04:47) **Breakdown of the 5% Waste Components**
- 4 (06:27) **Waste Management Timelines and Challenges**
- 5 (08:33) **Fuel Recycling to Reduce Waste**
- 6 (13:17) **US Nuclear Waste Inventory and History**
- 7 (19:34) **Current Storage Methods**
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Show Notes
The nuclear power sector is gaining a lot of momentum. But even as SMRs continue to flourish, the Department of Energy’s reactor pilot program moves forward, and decommissioned plants come back online, the question of what to do with nuclear waste has largely stayed out of the spotlight. The U.S. currently houses 90,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel; as more plants come online, that number could rise dramatically.
In this episode, Shayle speaks to Dr. Jen Shafer, a former ARPA-E director and current professor at the Colorado School of Mines, to learn more about waste itself, and how to dispose of — or recycle it — as the industry evolves.
The two cover topics like:
- The physical and chemical composition of spent nuclear fuel
- Short-term versus long-term hazards of waste
- The stalled disposal site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada
- Wet versus dry storage methods for nuclear waste
- The strategies for managing the waste from advanced reactors
- The “take back” model for managing microreactor waste
Resources
- Catalyst: The path to market for new nuclear reactors
- Catalyst: The US nuclear groundswell
- Open Circuit: Inside Meta’s massive nuclear push
- Open Circuit: Fear and loathing at the Department of Energy
- Latitude Media: What TerraPower’s big milestone says about future nuclear projects
- Latitude Media: Commonwealth Fusion Systems launches digital twin with Nvidia and Siemens
- Latitude Media: Trump Media’s bizarre fusion play for TAE Technologies
Credits: Hosted by Shayle Kann. Produced and edited by Max Savage Levenson. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is our executive editor.
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