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Technology for slashing nuclear power plant waste wins Swiss backing

Published

2 years ago

May 25, 2024

Technology for slashing nuclear power plant waste wins Swiss backing

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Switzerland has endorsed a long sought-after technology known as “nuclear transmutation” to dramatically reduce the amount of radioactive waste from atomic power plants.

Nagra, the Swiss national body that manages nuclear waste, said it had spent several months exploring the method proposed by Geneva-based start-up Transmutex and had concluded that the technology could cut the volume of highly radioactive waste by 80 per cent.

Storing highly radioactive material for hundreds of thousands of years has always been a huge and expensive problem for the nuclear industry.

While more than 20 countries, including the US, France, the UK and South Korea, agreed at the UN COP28 climate negotiations last year to triple nuclear energy capacity by 2050, there is currently no long-term storage site in operation.

Finland is building the world’s first such facility, which it says will safely guard waste for 100,000 years.

“Transmutex is trying to solve the problem we have had for a long while in nuclear, which is not safety, actually, but waste,” said Albert Wenger, an investor at Union Square Ventures, which is financing the start-up.

Nuclear transmutation is the conversion of one element into a different form, known as an isotope, or another element altogether. Transmutation has been a concept of fascination since the days when alchemists tried in vain to turn base metals into gold.

The idea of using the technique for managing nuclear waste has been a subject of interest for decades. Several countries have launched significant programmes to explore transmutation, according to the Nuclear Energy Agency of the intergovernmental OECD.

Transmutex proposes to use a particle accelerator coupled to a reactor to combine subatomic neutron particles with thorium, a slightly radioactive metal. This produces a uranium isotope that then fissions, releasing energy. Unlike uranium, thorium does not produce plutonium, or other highly radioactive waste.

“If it can be demonstrated to work, you basically get the best of both worlds,” said Jack Henderson, chair of the nuclear physics group at the UK’s Institute of Physics and a researcher at the University of Surrey. “You are able to reduce the level of radioactivity produced by burning up some of the longer-lived isotopes produced in your reactor — and you get energy out at the same time.”

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”.

He said it could be used on 99 per cent 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 1,000 years,” he said. He added that the process also reduced the volume of waste by 80 per cent.

Servan-Schreiber said the idea behind the process had been conceived by Carlo Rubbia, the former director-general of the Cern particle physics laboratory.

A potential obstacle to the viability of transmutation is the cost of set-up. The price of building a reactor coupled with a particle accelerator is unclear, but the Large Hadron Collider at Cern cost about $4.75bn.

The study undertaken by Nagra and Transmutex found that the technology could “dramatically reduce the volume of high-graded radioactive waste and reduce the lifetime for a very significant part of that waste category tremendously,” said Matthias Braun, head of Nagra.

Switzerland voted in a 2017 referendum not to replace its existing four nuclear reactors but Servan-Schreiber said the results gave “credence to this technology for other countries”, adding that he was in talks with at least three countries over a possible deal.

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What the SCOTUS campaign finance ruling means, according to an expert

Published

49 minutes ago

July 1, 2026

Press Room

What the SCOTUS campaign finance ruling means, according to an expert

Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Trevor Potter testifies during a Senate Rules and Administration Committee hearing on artificial intelligence and the future of elections on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Sept. 27, 2023.

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Drew Angerer/Getty Images

The Supreme Court struck down limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with their candidates in a 6-3 decision split along ideological lines. The ruling is the latest in a series of Supreme Court decisions that have loosened campaign finance restrictions, overturning a 2001 precedent that upheld the spending limits.

Former Federal Election Commission Chairman Trevor Potter, who now serves as president of the Campaign Legal Center, joined NPR’s Morning Edition to break down the ruling. Speaking to NPR’s Michel Martin, Potter discussed why the court reversed its earlier precedent, how the ruling changes campaign finance rules and whether greater transparency could address concerns about corruption.

Listen to the full interview by clicking on the blue play button above. And read takeaways from the conversation below.

The post-Watergate limits were meant to prevent corruption

Potter said they were designed to stop donors from routing large contributions through national party committees to directly fund a favored candidate’s campaign. The restrictions were intended to prevent “an obvious way around” campaign contribution limits.

The court previously upheld the same limits

Asked why the Supreme Court upheld the law about 20 years ago, Potter said the justices concluded the restrictions were a constitutional way to prevent corruption. He said the court viewed them as an “anti-circumvention measure” to stop donors from using political parties to bypass contribution limits.

Potter rejects the majority’s rationale

Potter rejected the majority’s view that political parties have less political power than outside groups, saying earlier Supreme Court decisions allowing unlimited outside spending created that imbalance. He pointed to Justice Elena Kagan’s dissent in support of that argument.

Disclosure wouldn’t necessarily reveal private fundraising arrangements

Potter said disclosure alone would not address his concerns because it cannot reveal private agreements between candidates and donors. While campaign donations to political parties are public, he said voters would not see behind-the-scenes requests from candidates asking donors to contribute to party committees that later support their campaigns.

“We’re never going to see that,” Potter said. “I don’t think there’s a way to practically disclose those backroom deals.”

This interview was written for the web by Majd Al-Waheidi and edited by Treye Green.

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Woman survives falling 1,500 feet down Mount Shasta

Published

11 hours ago

July 1, 2026

Press Room

Woman survives falling 1,500 feet down Mount Shasta

A woman suffered several injuries but survived falling 1,500 feet down California’s Mount Shasta on Sunday, officials said.

The climber, 31, was attempting to ascend the mountain, which is technically a stratovolcano with the second-highest peak in the Cascades, according to the U.S. Forest Service. She was climbing in a group of three novices at an elevation of around 13,000 feet when she fell.

She suffered a suspected ankle fracture and “additional injuries consistent with the significant fall,” although she was found alert and “in good spirits,” the forest service said. Officials haven’t identified the climber.

Efforts to locate and rescue the woman got underway at around noon on Sunday and involved three climbing rangers from the forest service as well as members of the California Highway Patrol. An initial helicopter search was limited because of cloud cover on the mountain, the forest service said, prompting one ranger to ascend a portion of the mountain on foot to reach her. One member of the woman’s climbing party helped carry rescue equipment, as did a fourth climber who stopped to assist.

California Highway Patrol safely removed the woman from the mountain at around 5:30 p.m., and she was eventually taken to Mercy Medical Center Mount Shasta for medical care, according to the forest service.

The agency said the woman’s fall “serves as an important reminder that Mount Shasta is a high-altitude mountaineering environment, not a hike,” and “experienced climbers can encounter rapidly ranging weather, steep snow and ice, rockfall, and hazardous fall conditions.”

It also encouraged prospective climbers to “be honest about your experience and physical conditioning” before attempting to summit the mountain.

The woman and her climbing party were ascending Mount Shasta along a route called Avalanche Gulch, which “is steep and rigorous requiring crampons, a mountain axe, helmet, and basic snow travel skills,” according to the Mount Shasta Avalanche Center. It takes climbers up a 7,000-foot vertical ascent that features “steep snow and ice, rock fall, and weather extremes,” the center said.

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In the United States, Every World Cup Team Is a Home Team

Published

19 hours ago

July 1, 2026

Press Room

In the United States, Every World Cup Team Is a Home Team

It’s a tiny restaurant in the Little Morocco neighborhood of Queens. But throughout this World Cup, it has swelled with pride, song and beating drums as the Moroccan national team has pushed its way deep into soccer’s biggest international tournament.

It’s a scene that has been echoed across the United States — in a multitude of languages and colors, as soccer fans from all over the world, many now making their homes in America, have packed bars, restaurants, living rooms and concert venues.

No matter where they came from or where they gathered, they all sought the same experience: a chance to watch their nations compete while surrounded by others who share passion and pride for the country they or their ancestors once called home.

Together, these fans have brought places throughout the United States to life.

Bosnia vs Qatar

Bosnians Rejoice in St. Louis, Mo.

Visuals by David Robert Elliott

Thousands of Bosnians settled in the St. Louis area during the 1990s, as war and genocide ripped their communities apart. The city is now home to more than 60,000 Bosnians, scores of whom gathered at Bevo Caffe Lounge on June 24 to watch Bosnia and Herzegovina play.

This is only the second time the team has qualified for the World Cup — and the first time it has reached the knockout round. Its reward: Meeting one of the hosts, the United States, on Wednesday in Santa Clara, Calif.

Haiti vs Brazil

In Miami, Little Haiti Comes to Life

More than 100,000 residents of Miami-Dade County, Fla., are of Haitian descent, and the Little Haiti neighborhood of Miami has long been their central hub.

During the World Cup, fans of Haiti’s team have flocked to the neighborhood, packing restaurants, bars and even parking lots to watch the action. Many have come wearing jerseys, while others simply dressed in the red and blue of the Haitian flag.

Haiti ended up in a tough group, losing all of its matches, including a 3-0 defeat to Brazil on June 19. But for some fans, the fact that the team had qualified at all was its one victory. Before this year, Haiti had played in only one other World Cup, in 1974.

Morocco

Moroccan Joy in Queens, N.Y.

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Touria Lamtahaf worked as a chef four years ago at a restaurant in Astoria, Queens, in the heart of an enclave on Steinway Avenue known as Little Morocco.

After the Moroccan team upset Portugal in a World Cup quarterfinal, Ms. Lamtahaf remembers hundreds of Morocco fans surging onto Steinway Avenue, setting off flares and red smoke bombs to celebrate.

“It was a good memory for all of us,” she said. “We were very proud. You just needed something to be happy. After Covid, this was amazing.”

The neighborhood has long been a hub for immigrant communities from North African countries, including Egypt, and is also home to a large Greek community.

Many settled in Astoria decades ago, drawn by low rents and a neighborhood that could feel calm compared with other bustling parts of New York. Ms. Lamtahaf, who moved to the United States in 2007, said that she originally lived in Ridgewood neighborhood of Queens, but word of mouth led her to Astoria, where she now runs her own restaurant.

The restaurant, Dar Lbahja, is just a few blocks from where she used to work. Ms. Lamtahaf said that when she opened it just over a year ago, she wanted to create a space where people could not just eat, but also gather to watch soccer, like she did growing up with her father in Morocco.

“It was only one TV, and we had to watch with him,” Ms. Lamtahaf said. “So we grew up with the soccer.”

During this tournament, Morocco fans have packed into Dar Lbahja on game days, with many in Morocco’s red jersey, and others in the team’s white kit. They were rewarded with a berth in the knockout stages, and then again on Monday when their team won a tense matchup with the Netherlands in a penalty shootout.

Fans took to the streets in jubilant celebration, just as they did in 2022.

Kacem Ettahali, 19, of Houston, is spending the summer in New York for an internship and watched the first Morocco game of the tournament on June 13 at the restaurant.

After the team scored, Mr. Ettahali received a flurry of texts from his friends. “When they think of Morocco, they think of me,” he said.

He wasn’t the only Texan in the joint. Jori and Ahmed Lamghari traveled from the Dallas area because Ms. Lamghari, 43, wanted her husband to experience the city during the tournament. “I wanted him to get the New York World Cup vibe,” she said.

Mr. Lamghari, 33, said that “Moroccans make their own ambience,” adding, “We want to live it.”

France vs Norway

In Chicago, Hope for Another French Title

The French love a good outdoor drinking venue. For the country’s June 26 match against the rowing Norwegians, fans gathered on the outdoor patio of Soccer House in Chicago, a city whose deep French roots stretch back to the colonial days.

France is widely considered a tournament favorite, potentially giving its fans several more opportunities to celebrate.

Argentina vs Austria

In Provo, Utah, Messi Mania Is a Family Affair

Sporting the colors is intergenerational in Provo, Utah. Luis and Lidia Peve moved there 25 years ago, following a son who emigrated first, and decorated their home with small Argentina flags ahead of the team’s match against Austria on June 22.

As game time approached, about a dozen members of the family painted their faces with the sky blue and white of Argentina’s flag. Together, they sat around the TV with their eyes trained particularly on Lionel Messi, the team’s star, who is likely playing in his last World Cup.

He finished the game with three goals — a hat trick — and a new generation of fans in the Peve household.

D.R. Congo vs Colombia

In Silver Spring, Md., a Happy Return to the World Cup

Visuals by Salwan Georges

Congolese fans in Silver Spring, Md., belted out their national anthem in a veterans hall, hands over their hearts, ahead of the country’s match against Colombia on June 23.

Refugee aid programs have resettled many Congolese families in the suburbs north of the nation’s capital, as their nation has been rived by war, unrest and now an Ebola outbreak.

The Congolese side lost its match to Colombia on that day. But the team managed to advance out of the group stage for the first time in its history. Before this World Cup, the country had been to the tournament only once, in 1974, when it lost all of its matches.

Portugal

A Block Party of Red and Green in Rhode Island

Visuals by Adrienne Grunwald

The go-to drink special last weekend in East Providence, R.I., was a vodka cocktail called the CR7. And you’d be hard-pressed to find a resident of the region who didn’t know it was in honor of Cristiano Ronaldo, the 41-year-old Portuguese striker who is playing in his sixth — and likely last — World Cup, wearing his famous No. 7.

The drink was served at the Portuguese restaurant O Dinis, a neighborhood staple. A large number of Portuguese immigrants settled in this corner of Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts during the Industrial Revolution, finding work in the textile, whaling and manufacturing industries.

“Life is beautiful in Portugal,” said Natalia Paiva-Neves, who moved to the United States when she was 16 and now runs O Dinis, which was founded by her father. “But at the time, there was a lot of poverty, because there were no jobs, and there was no tourism. There was none of that stuff going on, so you had to find a means to provide for your family.”

After pre-gaming over CR7s, along with beer, wine, meats and shrimp, some fans walked from O Dinis to a watch party that stretched for two blocks, from a screen in the parking lot of nearby Cafe Alma to Campino’s, another Portuguese restaurant.

“It’s just a great feeling,” said Kevin Matos, the cafe’s owner. “Everybody’s enjoying themselves. It doesn’t matter the result on the screen.”

Some fans might not have agreed, though a scoreless draw sent both teams through to the knockout stage.

The block party, with hundreds of fans lining the streets, was in part the brainchild of East Providence’s mayor, Roberto DaSilva. “We had no idea that it’d be this many people showing up,” he said. “We thought we got a good crowd, but this is much more than than I ever expected.”

Some had to stand on their tiptoes see the screens. Others packed into shops to sit down and watch the game, while others pulled out their phones as they stood in line to buy beer and snacks from food trucks and vendors.

Mexico vs South Korea

A Backyard Party in a Texas Border Town

Visuals by Gabriel V. Cárdenas

Roughly four out of five residents in the Texas border town of Weslaco are of Mexican descent, making the country’s June 18 match in Guadalajara feel like a home game.

For a youth soccer team, it was a chance to watch their heroes take another step toward the knockout rounds.

Under the night sky, they watched anxiously, breaking into dance after Mexico won.

Uruguay vs Spain

Elimination Brings Anguish to Uruguay Fans in Miami

Visuals by Scott McIntyre

Uruguay needed this one. The nation that hosted the first World Cup in 1930, winning the tournament that year and again in 1950, was on the brink of elimination last week against Spain — considered one of the strongest teams in the tournament.

Fans at Doña Paulina, a Uruguayan restaurant in Miami, anxiously watched their team fight for a chance to stay in the competition.

It wasn’t to be. Spain emerged victorious, 1-0.

Japan vs Tunisia

In San Diego, Fans Cheer the Samurai Blue

Their team is called the Samurai Blue, and the many Japanese fans living in Southern California — a diaspora that first settled there in the late 19th century as farmers and fishermen, and endured harsh incarceration during World War II — made their blue kits prominent as the team played its way through a so-called group of death.

They eventually earned a second-place finish to reach the round of 32. The result was a Monday matchup with Brazil, in which Japan fell 2-1.

Iran

In Los Angeles, Mixed Feelings About the Iranian Team

For Americans from Iran, supporting the Iranian national team has been a thorny issue.

Some have refused to even watch the matches. To them, the team feels like an extension of the government, whose persecution drove many to flee the country. It’s especially difficult as their new home, the United States, and their old home are at war.

“That’s a little conflict for me,” said Roozbeh Farahanipour, who helped lead an Iranian student uprising in 1999 and fled the country the following year, seeking political asylum in America. “I am a little different from other fans, because no way I can cheer or stand for either Islamic Republic of Iran’s national anthem, nor for the flags.”

He added, “I am American now. My flag is the U.S. flag.”

Others of Iranian descent have eagerly backed the national team and bristled at its travails, especially in Southern California, which was host to the team’s first match and is home to the largest diaspora of Iranians outside Iran. Many live, shop and eat in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, where an enclave has become known as Tehrangeles, after the Iranian capital.

Still, compared with those of other diasporas, gatherings to back the Iranian team have seemed smaller and more muted. Only a handful of fans gathered at Attari Sandwich Shop, a Persian eatery in the heart of Tehrangeles, during Iran’s June 21 match against Belgium at SoFi Stadium in nearby Inglewood, Calif.

Inside the restaurant, some fans anxiously watched the game over kebab plates and pastries. Others outside proudly waved their flags on the neighborhood thoroughfare, Westwood Boulevard.

Bijan Bahmani, who lives in Los Angeles, took his 2-year-old son to Iran’s match against New Zealand on June 15 in Inglewood with his father-in-law. While he opposes the Iranian regime and hopes for democracy one day, Mr. Bahmani said he still wanted to cheer to the national team.

“It’s complicated, because we have feelings a lot of different ways, with the complicated politics,” said Mr. Bahmani, 41, who moved to the United States in 2001. “I am definitely rooting for Iran because they represent Iran, not the government.”

Even as he took in the game with this family, Mr. Bahmani said the war was on his mind.

“I hope this peace lasts,” he said, referring to the current fragile cease-fire. “Every day, we’re worried.”

Cape Verde vs Saudi Arabia

Celebrating the Small but Mighty in New Bedford, Mass.

Every tournament has a surprise underdog. This year, it’s Cape Verde, a small island nation off the western coast of Africa. Its team had an opportunity on Friday to become the smallest country by population ever to advance to a World Cup knockout round.

The pivotal match drew people of Cape Verdean descent to a veterans hall in New Bedford, Mass., about an hour drive south of Boston. Like Portugal and Brazil, whaling and related industries brought a sizable population of immigrants from Cape Verde to southeastern New England.

A scoreless tie with Saudi Arabia was all it took for tears and roars to erupt in the veterans hall. Their team would keep playing, for at least one more game.

Brazil vs Haiti

A Brazilian Dance Party Near Boston

Massachusetts has a long history of Portuguese-speaking settlers, making Brazilians feel welcome in the Boston area. That’s especially the case in the southwest suburb of Framingham, Mass., where the Brazilian-born population rivals that of Boston.

They packed into Tropical Cafe, a Brazilian restaurant in Framingham, gathering around hightop tables as their team played Haiti on June 19. After Brazil secured a 3-0 win, fans made the restaurant an impromptu dance club to celebrate.

Germany vs Curaçao

In Texas, German Fans Root, and Eat, to Honor a Neighbor

Bratwurst and steins of beer accompanied the match at Bavarian Grill in Plano, Texas, a Dallas suburb, as Germany played Curaçao in Houston on June 14. But perhaps the city’s most important fan of the German team was not there.

Jürgen Mahneke, who was born in Braunschweig, Germany, immigrated to the United States in 1984, and worked in hotels across the country before settling in Plano.

He opened the restaurant in 1993, and died at age 67 on June 10, a day before the World Cup began.

His restaurant went on with the planned festivities. One of the managers said Mr. Mahneke would have wanted them to. His team won its opener, 7-1, but went home on Monday, falling to Paraguay in a heartbreaking penalty shootout — the opposite of Morocco’s elating win hours later.