These plants are being designed to be safer and more efficient. There is also an effort under way to make nuclear plants easier to build by standardizing the design and simplifying the licensing requirements, without lessening safety standards. In the area of waste management, engineers are developing new methods and places to store the radioactive waste produced by nuclear plants and other nuclear processes. Their goal is to keep the waste away from the environment and people for very long periods of time. Scientists are also studying the power of nuclear fusion.
Fusion is the energy that powers the sun.
On earth, the most promising fusion fuel is deuterium, a form of hydrogen. It comes from water and is plentiful. It is also likely to create less radioactive waste than fission. However, scientists are still unable to produce useful amounts of power from fusion and are continuing their research. Research in other nuclear areas is also continuing in the 1990's.