Spent nuclear fuel, occasionally called used nuclear fuel, is nuclear fuel that has been irradiated in a nuclear reactor (usually at a nuclear power plant).

Oct 3, 2022 · Spent fuel refers to the nuclear fuel that has been used in a reactor. The fuel used in today’s commercial reactors is made up of small ceramic pellets of low-enriched uranium oxide.

Reactor operators have to manage the heat and radioactivity that remains in the "spent fuel" after it's taken out of the reactor. In the U.S., every reactor has at least one pool on the plant site where spent …

Jan 29, 2026 · Spent nuclear fuel (SNF) consists of irradiated fuel rods extracted directly from commercial nuclear power reactors. These rods contain a combination of uranium, plutonium, and …

Two different management strategies are used for spent nuclear fuel. In one the fuel is reprocessed to extract usable material (uranium and plutonium) for new fuel. In the other, spent fuel is simply …

Sep 19, 2024 · Even though fuel coming out of a reactor is “spent,” over 90 percent of the uranium material that can be split to produce energy still exists. Multiple countries, including the US, have at …

Feb 12, 2026 · Nuclear technology start-up Project Omega announced on February 11 that it has emerged from stealth mode with hopes of processing and recycling spent nuclear fuel into “long …

The U.S. nuclear power industry has safely and effectively managed spent nuclear fuel (SNF) for decades. This specific form of nuclear waste is tracked with great precision and stored to keep it …

Jan 23, 2025 · Nuclear reactors produce highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel (SNF) as a result of power production. During reactor operation, some of the uranium in nuclear fuel is split (fissioned) to …

Commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) is nuclear fuel that has been removed from a commercial nuclear power reactor following irradiation and that is no longer intended for use in producing power.