A professor at the University of Saskatchewan hopes a recent in-house study will help people get on board with the future use of nuclear energy.

Andrew Grosvenor and one of his PhD students, Mehrnaz Mikhchian, have just completed a one-year study in which they tested the corrosion-resistance and capacity of a new, glass-ceramic composite material used for storing nuclear waste.

“Think of a chocolate chip cookie. The dough is a glass matrix, and the chocolate chips are crystallites of a crystalline-ordered oxide material,” Grosvenor explains. ” Our study determined that after a very long period of being exposed to water and extensive studies, that the corrosion (resistance) of these glass-ceramic composites was equivalent if not better than just the glass on its own.”

On top of that, their material also contains a higher percentage of waste than just glass, the substance currently used to store nuclear waste.

“One thing I’m hoping (that comes) from this study, and has been happening, is that people really recognize that these glass-ceramic composite materials are a choice as the next generation nuclear waste (storage) form.”

Grosvenor adds that adopting nuclear energy is an important step for Canada to reach net zero carbon emissions, and he has already had conversations with organizations willing to utilize his team’s new technology.