When considering options for storing spent nuclear fuel, phosphate-based waste forms might be a viable solution.
Graduate student Jade Beland, who has been investigating this topic alongside Associate Professor Krista Carlson, presented her findings at the March 2025 Waste Management (WM) Symposia in Phoenix, Arizona. She’s one of a handful of graduate and undergraduate students to receive the nationally competitive Roy G. Post Foundation scholarship, which covers conference travel expenses and provides a $7,000 stipend for educational expenses.
Beland joins several other Wolf Pack engineering students who have earned the prestigious scholarship in recent years, including Harmony Werth in 2024 and Lucia Coello Poole in 2023.
“Jade understands how important nuclear power is for national energy security,” Carlson said. “She also understands the importance of having solutions for waste reduction and management. I enjoy watching her share her passion with others… and holding envelopes of cash because she is so good at it.”
Carlson was referencing Beland’s many academic wins achieved during her undergraduate years at the 推荐杏吧原创, including winning the top prize at the 2023 Material Advantage Undergraduate Student Poster Competition at the 2023 Materials Science & Technology (MS&T) conference. She also took second place in the undergraduate speaking contest at the national MS&T conference.
Journey into research
Beland’s introduction to nuclear research at the University began in 2022 when, as a sophomore, she was introduced to the student chapter of the American Nuclear Society (ANS). At her first meeting, Beland listened to club leaders discuss active research on campus and was intrigued by discussions about capturing gaseous radioactive waste with high surface area glass.
Beland had been introduced to nuclear energy in a science class at Churchill County High School in Fallon, Nevada, and understood that nuclear waste management was a paramount concern.
At the ANS meeting, speakers discussed the types of materials that could be used for nuclear waste storage. Learning that glass could be used to mitigate the growing volume of waste at nuclear reactors around the country was “eye-opening,” Beland said, and she began reading the literature and history of waste management in the United States.
Soon after, she joined Carlson’s group as an undergraduate researcher. Initially, she worked on high surface area glass containing metals that could capture gaseous radioactive iodine released during the processing of spent fuel. After starting graduate school, Beland switched to her current project, studying phosphate-based waste forms for the immobilization of radioactive salt waste produced during the recycling of used nuclear fuel.
Recycling nuclear fuel — or reusing materials from spent fuel to make new fuel — has gotten attention in recent years as a way to meet the nation’s power needs, Beland said, but recycling still produces a waste byproduct that needs to be handled carefully.
The phosphate-based process she is studying is interesting, she said, because it has the potential to reduce waste volume while simultaneously producing a durable material.
“After a lot of challenges, the phosphate-based process is starting to look like a viable option,” Beland said.
Powering the nation
Beland’s interest in nuclear power is tied to achieving a zero-emissions option to support the nation’s increasing energy demands. In 2023, she became the ANS chapter president and invited Nuclear Regulatory Commissioner Bradley Crowell to campus to discuss the future of nuclear power in the U.S. At this meeting, about 100 students gathered to hear Crowell’s vision for the future. Beland recalled her and her fellow students’ excitement when Crowell discussed a possible nuclear renaissance.
But she and others remain mindful of concerns over nuclear waste and how it’s managed: the WM Symposia in March brought together hundreds of professionals working on the minimization of waste through new recycling.
Beland is set to graduate later this year with a master’s degree and plans to work in the field of nuclear waste management. Cheering her on is one of her former teachers at Churchill County High School: Steve Johnson.
“She was a top student,” Johnson said. “Whatever she decides to do, she’s going to go very far.”
