Studsvik will provide ReNu Industries with technical information and advice on design conditions for a Japanese version of inDRUM, its in-container treatment technology for radioactive waste, under an agreement signed on October 21. ReNu, a Japanese nuclear engineering start-up, will design a pilot plant to be built in Fukushima Prefecture, adapted to Japan's seismic and regulatory requirements and to the characteristics of the waste to be treated.

inDRUM is a batch thermo-chemical system that treats containerized waste in the container in which it was originally packaged, removing free liquids, destroying organics and deactivating corrosives and reactive materials. It addresses transuranic waste streams that do not meet disposal criteria and can be used on low, intermediate and high-level radioactive waste. The treated waste forms an inert, inorganic dry char, with volume reduced by as much as 90%.

ReNu has been awarded up to JPY700 million (USD4.4 million) under the Subsidy for Projects Promoting Practical Development for Regional Reconstruction, implemented by Fukushima Prefecture under the Japanese government's Fukushima reconstruction initiative. ReNu aims to establish basic design conditions for the Japanese inDRUM during fiscal year 2026, which ends in March 2027, and to complete the pilot plant in fiscal year 2028, subject to the necessary agreements.

Studsvik operates a full-scale inDRUM demonstration facility in Nyköping and is advancing adoption of the technology for waste from the European Spallation Source in Lund. Abroad it licenses the technology and works with local partners that design, build and operate the plants; in September 2023 it formed an exclusive cooperation with GNS Gesellschaft für Nuklear-Service mbH for the German market. The two companies will also explore deploying inDRUM elsewhere in Japan and in Asia, and broader cooperation in nuclear engineering, including fusion.

"Fukushima will need radioactive waste treatment for decades," Studsvik President and CEO Karl Thedéen said. ReNu is based in Okuma, the town that hosts the plant.