Call for Papers

Please contact the symposium organizers with questions.

Nuclear waste management is a complex and multidisciplinary field that requires scientific expertise, technological advancements, regulatory frameworks, and public involvement. Ongoing research and development efforts aim to enhance understanding of waste management practices, improve and advance novel waste treatment technologies, and explore advanced disposal options to address long-term safety concerns and minimize environmental impacts.

This MRS symposium, first held in 1978, is the premier international meeting to address the fundamental and applied science of materials in the context of the safe and effective management of nuclear wastes. The special topics of interest include material development and characterization, processing, and practical aspects of their deployment. Other topics will address: 1) design, formulation, fabrication, and durability testing of waste forms; 2) effect of disposal conditions and radiation on properties of waste forms; 3) melt processing in joule-heated ceramic melters and cold crucibles, hot isostatic pressing, cementation, and steam reforming; 4) disposal concepts, designs, and materials including container corrosion; 5) engineered barrier systems; 6) radionuclide solubility, speciation, sorption, and migration; 7) methods and techniques, including the development of analytical methods for nuclear forensics advancement; and 8) recent developments and novel techniques in solid and liquid characterization, sensing and monitoring of radionuclides, and modeling tools.

Topics will include:

• Waste forms
• Development and scale up of waste processing technologies
• Behavior of spent nuclear fuel materials in different disposal environments
• Geological disposal of radioactive wastes
• Off-gas management for reprocessing, vitrification, and molten salt reactors
• Strategies, processes and materials for the disposition of plutonium and fissile materials from civil and defense stockpiles
• International research and waste management programs
• Development and enhancement of safeguards concepts
• Cross-cutting topics

Invited Speakers:

• Nicolas Dacheux (Université de Montpellier, France)
• Pavel Ferkl (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, USA)
• Stephane Gin (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, France)
• Christophe Jegou (Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives, France)
• Maik Lang (The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA)
• Thierry Mennecart (Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Belgium)
• Gabriel Murphy (Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Germany)
• Ian Pegg (The Catholic University of America, USA)
• Karin Popa (European Commission, Germany)
• Nieves Rodriguez-Villagra (Centre for Energy, Environmental and Technological Research, Spain)
• Clare Thorpe (University of Sheffield, United Kingdom)

Symposium Organizers