Advancements In Technology Is Turning Nuclear Waste In To Fuel
Tuesday, May 28, 2024, 11:30 A.M. ET. By Ryan Metz: Englebrook Independent News,
MANHATTAN, NY.- As many countries around the world are making the effort to transition from fossil fuels to renewable and clean energy sources, the question of nuclear energy has arisen time and time again. Finally, it seems that over the past few decades, there have been many breakthroughs in technology to make nuclear power a safe and productive alternative.
Transmutex, a company based in Switzerland, has received approval from the Swiss government to begin implementing its nuclear waste reduction technology. The system involves transmuting thorium, a slightly radioactive metal, into a uranium isotope for use as fuel. By utilizing a uranium isotope that has been created through transmutation, there are fewer byproducts resulting in the reduction of nuclear waste by nearly 80%.
Franklin Servan-Schreiber, chief executive of Transmutex, said transmutation was the "first technology that has been taken seriously by a nuclear waste agency to reduce the amount of nuclear waste." Further, Servan-Schreiber said it could be used on 99 percent of the world's nuclear waste and would reduce the time it remains radioactive to "less than 500 years." This is very significant because you can guarantee waterproof storage for 1000 years," he said. He added that the process also reduced the volume of waste by percent.
Other nuclear energy companies have been looking into methods of recycling nuclear waste, with the French company Orano stating that 96% of nuclear waste can be recycled and reused as fuel. Beyond the technologies to deal with nuclear waste, new reactor designs make meltdowns and failures literally impossible.
With the newly created technology to reduce nuclear waste in the first place and the ability to recycle 96% of the nuclear waste already in existence, it seems that safe and efficient nuclear power will soon be widely available worldwide.
FILED UNDER: MAY 28, 2024: WORLD, NATIONAL, LOCAL, SCIENCE & NATURE: