What if there were a way to solve one of the most significant obstacles to the use of nuclear energy ' the disposal of high-level nuclear waste (HLW)' Dauren Sarsenbayev, a third-year doctoral student at the MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE), is addressing the challenge as part of his research. Sarsenbayev focuses on one of the primary problems related to HLW: decay heat released by radioactive waste. The basic premise of his solution is to extract the heat from spent fuel, which simultaneously takes care of two objectives: gaining more energy from an existing carbon-free resource while decreasing the challenges associated with storage and handling of HLW. 'The value of carbon-free energy continues to rise each year, and we want to extract as much of it as possible,' Sarsenbayev explains. While the safe management and disposal of HLW has seen significant progress, there can be more creative ways to manage or take advantage of the waste. Such a move would be...
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