Nuclear Waste Could Become a Future Power Source, Expanding Access to Rare Fusion Fuel
By Perri Thaler | Published August 21, 2025
In a promising development for clean energy, nuclear waste—long considered a significant environmental challenge—may soon be repurposed as a valuable resource to fuel nuclear fusion, the elusive technology that could provide near-limitless, emission-free power. Physicist Terence Tarnowsky of Los Alamos National Laboratory unveiled a concept this week that could transform the way rare fuel isotopes needed for fusion reactors are produced, potentially positioning the United States as a leader in the emerging fusion economy.
Tritium: The Rare Fuel for Fusion
One of the main obstacles in realizing practical nuclear fusion is the scarcity and cost of tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen used alongside deuterium in fusion reactions. Tritium is not naturally abundant on Earth and has proved expensive and difficult to manufacture in sufficient quantities. Yet, fusion reactions involving tritium and deuterium are among the most promising for generating vast amounts of clean energy.
At the American Chemical Society’s fall meeting, Tarnowsky proposed harvesting tritium from nuclear waste—a byproduct of existing nuclear fission reactors. "Nuclear fusion has the potential to offer emission-free, abundant energy," Tarnowsky explained. "But there’s limited availability and a high cost for tritium right now, and that presents a barrier to the technology’s success."
Harnessing Nuclear Waste to Generate Fuel
The proposed method would use a particle accelerator to bombard radioactive nuclear waste, splitting the atoms within and triggering a chain of reactions that eventually produce tritium. While this process would not eliminate nuclear waste—since the residual materials would remain hazardous—it would grant new utility to the millions of tons of radioactive byproducts accumulating worldwide, often stored at great expense and environmental risk.
Nuclear waste primarily contains spent fuel—once useful uranium and plutonium fuel rods—and various long-lived fission products, such as strontium and iodine isotopes, some taking hundreds of millions of years to decay.
Recent technological advances make this approach more feasible than before, with early calculations indicating that operating a 1-gigawatt system (a sizeable but practical energy input) could yield approximately 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of tritium annually. To put this in perspective, that amount of tritium could power tens of thousands of American homes for a year through fusion energy.
Importantly, Tarnowsky projects this method could produce more than ten times the tritium of current approaches using the same amount of power.
Addressing Fusion’s Fuel Challenge
Nuclear fusion creates energy by combining light atomic nuclei, releasing tremendous amounts of heat. The most studied fusion reaction fuses tritium and deuterium, generating helium and energy. However, achieving sustained, self-powering fusion—known as ignition—remains a significant scientific and engineering hurdle.
Another limiting factor is tritium’s limited half-life. It decays by about 5.5% each year, meaning it cannot be stockpiled like other fuels. This necessitates a consistent, long-term supply chain for successful fusion reactor deployment.
Currently, the United States pays approximately $15 million per pound ($33 million per kilogram) of tritium, reflecting its scarcity. "For fusion to be commercially viable, new and cheaper tritium production methods must be operational ahead of time," Tarnowsky stressed.
A Paradigm Shift in Nuclear Energy Utilization
Tarnowsky’s vision represents a potential paradigm shift by turning a costly liability—nuclear waste—into a valuable asset advancing clean energy technology. "This technology is possible today," he told Live Science. "It would be a very large paradigm shift with respect to utilizing the spent nuclear fuel that we have already, owned by the government."
While many details and technical challenges remain to be refined before the approach can be fully commercialized, Tarnowsky expressed optimism about the evolving perception of nuclear power. "The times have changed," he said, referencing the negative public impressions stemming from historical nuclear accidents such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Moving Toward the Fusion Future
The development arrives amid broader progress in fusion research worldwide, with major experimental reactors being built and records being broken. Turkey’s or Germany’s recent advances in fusion plasma stability signify incremental steps toward viable fusion power plants.
As nations intensify efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and transition from fossil fuels, innovations like Tarnowsky’s could play a critical role in addressing both energy needs and nuclear waste management.
For now, the physics community and energy policymakers will watch keenly as research into turning nuclear waste into a sustainable tritium source progresses.
Related Reading:
- NASA Aims to Build Nuclear Reactor on the Moon by 2030
- French Scientists Smash China’s ‘Artificial Sun’ Fusion Record
- World’s Largest Nuclear Fusion Reactor Completed, Expected to Run in 15 Years
Perri Thaler is a science journalist and intern at Live Science, specializing in space, technology, and physical sciences. She studied astronomy and economics at Cornell University and is currently pursuing a master’s in journalism at New York University.
