{"id":32206,"date":"2026-05-13T09:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T08:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/?p=32206"},"modified":"2026-05-11T14:12:48","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T13:12:48","slug":"sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainable &#8216;smouldering&#8217; technology to tackle nuclear waste"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A new research project will investigate an emerging, sustainable waste treatment technology based on smouldering combustion to efficiently treat nuclear graphite waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Researchers from the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/universitiesfornottingham.ac.uk\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/universitiesfornottingham.ac.uk\/\">University of Nottingham<\/a><\/strong>&#8216;s Faculty of Engineering have been awarded funding to explore the use of applied smouldering, or flameless combustion, as a novel thermal method to reduce nuclear graphite waste bricks to ash. This process will harness the energy contained within the graphite to destroy itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The UK&#8217;s fleet of nuclear reactors use graphite moderator bricks, these are engineered blocks of high-purity, synthetic graphite, typically arranged into thousands of interlocking structures to form the core of gas-cooled nuclear reactors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These graphite bricks become contaminated \u2013 primarily with Carbon-14 \u2013 over decades of operation. Nuclear Restoration Services is tasked with managing approximately 100, 000 tonnes of graphite upon decommissioning, representing ~33% of the total Intermediate Level Waste destined for the proposed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/tracking.nottingham.ac.uk\/tracking\/click?d=mBk_Vqz4pLva3OzqIyQJy6ATPSOGC8RbdSbvzhCWst9sVH8PUWJIslNPFhJEgkt0v7Wuq_2HHQ5ywiJF4hIjgZWRiReMMe-ptdW4VeI9pENShfXwn_jMcXe8FLgRb5i4b9-Wtyu_vZ9j4wGKjzyNDaP95hIcQA2HoQuoClahJLcSZ1aU8mKnyhhsAqBb6rcumQ2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Geological Disposal Facility<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Decommissioning reactors and managing the waste graphite presents significant technical and environmental challenges due to its physical condition as well as the long half-life of Carbon-14, which is around 5730 years, plus and other radionuclides, the volume of waste, and other persistent residual risks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Smouldering is emerging as an energy-efficient alternative thermal technique that has been used to successfully manage similar non-volatile carbon-based wastes commercially, and presents strong potential as a new method to manage the UK&#8217;s nuclear graphite waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This research team \u2013 led by Tarek Rashwan, Oliver Fisher, and Rachel Gomes \u2013 will assess the feasibility of applied smouldering for nuclear graphite waste treatment through experiments, modelling, techno-economic analyses, and life cycle assessments alongside international partners between the UK and Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tarek Rashwan, Assistant Professor in Chemical and Environmental Engineering at the University of Nottingham said: &#8220;Novel environmental technologies are needed to manage challenging nuclear graphite waste sustainably. To tackle this problem, we aim to develop a new, energy\u2011efficient alternative to manage the UK&#8217;s substantial nuclear graphite waste, which has the potential to accelerate UK and international nuclear reactor decommissioning efforts.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new research project will investigate an emerging, sustainable waste treatment technology based on smouldering combustion to efficiently treat nuclear graphite waste. Researchers from the University of Nottingham&#8216;s Faculty of Engineering have been awarded funding to explore the use of applied smouldering, or flameless combustion, as a novel thermal method to reduce nuclear graphite waste &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-process"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sustainable &#039;smouldering&#039; technology to tackle nuclear waste - Engineer News Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sustainable &#039;smouldering&#039; technology to tackle nuclear waste - Engineer News Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new research project will investigate an emerging, sustainable waste treatment technology based on smouldering combustion to efficiently treat nuclear graphite waste. Researchers from the University of Nottingham&#8216;s Faculty of Engineering have been awarded funding to explore the use of applied smouldering, or flameless combustion, as a novel thermal method to reduce nuclear graphite waste &hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Engineer News Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-13T08:10:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4477342aea8e299c6a21761e513ea8e1\"},\"headline\":\"Sustainable &#8216;smouldering&#8217; technology to tackle nuclear waste\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-13T08:10:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":332,\"articleSection\":[\"Process\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/\",\"name\":\"Sustainable 'smouldering' technology to tackle nuclear waste - Engineer News Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-13T08:10:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4477342aea8e299c6a21761e513ea8e1\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sustainable &#8216;smouldering&#8217; technology to tackle nuclear waste\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Engineer News Network\",\"description\":\"The ultimate online news and information resource for today's engineer\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4477342aea8e299c6a21761e513ea8e1\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sustainable 'smouldering' technology to tackle nuclear waste - Engineer News Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.engineernewsnetwork.com\/blog\/sustainable-smouldering-technology-to-tackle-nuclear-waste\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sustainable 'smouldering' technology to tackle nuclear waste - Engineer News Network","og_description":"A new research project will investigate an emerging, sustainable waste treatment technology based on smouldering combustion to efficiently treat nuclear graphite waste. 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