One of the issues with nuclear power plants is that they produce long-lived radioactive waste. Storing spent nuclear fuel is a real problem. However, researchers at the Department of Energy’s Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility have made strides not only to produce more electricity from spent fuel but also to break it down into shorter-lived nuclear waste. [Aman Tripathi] shares the details about NEWTON, a program to fire high-energy protons at a target to produce a flood of neutrons that can interact with nuclear waste. You can read the original press release, too.Short-lived, of course, is a relative term. Unprocessed spent fuel may be dangerous for about 100,000 years. After the proposed processing, the danger period is down to “only” 300 years. On the plus side, the process generates a lot of heat, which you can convert to electricity in the usual way.While 300 years is a long time, it isn’t difficult to imagine storing waste for that period of time. So why isn’t this a no-brainer? The process is not efficient. You need cryogenic cooling for superconducting, although there is work to make higher-temperature alternatives.The other hurdle is power usage. You probably have a microwave oven with a magnetron. The magnetron in this project needs 10 megawatts of power. Researchers hope to process all of the US nuclear waste within the next 30 years.If you haven’t heard of Jefferson Labs, don’t feel bad. But their YouTube channel is full of fun physics demos that would work well in a science class or with any group of kids. For example, check out “Can it Roll” below.If you think locking up waste for 100,000 years is easy, keep in mind the oldest Egyptian pyramid is about 5,000 years old. Another alternative is to find a way to use the waste, but that can be challenging as well.