US funds nuclear fuel recycling research

Five US companies have been awarded more than US$ 19 million (EUR 16 million) to research and develop recycling technologies for used nuclear fuel.

The funding comes from the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy. Projects will support the government’s nuclear energy agenda of maximising reliable power production, dependence from foreign sources of enriched uranium and reducing the volume of used fuel being stored. 

Untapped

‘Used nuclear fuel is an incredible untapped resource in the United States,’ says assistant secretary for nuclear energy Ted Garrish. ‘The Trump Administration is taking a common-sense approach to making sure we’re using our resources in the most efficient ways possible to secure American energy independence and fuel our economic growth.’

According to a press release, less than 5% of the potential energy of nuclear fuel is extracted after five years of operation in a reactor. Recycling used fuel could increase resource utilisation by 95%, reduce waste by 90%, and decrease the amount of uranium needed to operate nuclear reactors. 

Additional benefits include the recovery and extraction of valuable radio-isotopes for medical, industrial, and defence purposes.  

Recipients

The research will last up to three years and each award winner will contribute at least 20% towards the cost. The five companies are: 

• Alpha Nur: research and validate a process that will recover highly enriched uranium from used nuclear fuel and transform it to a usable high assay low enrichment uranium form for reuse in small modular reactor designs.
• Curio Solutions:  develop a process designed to produce uranium hexafluoride gas from used fuel.
• Flibe Energy: study the use of electrochemical methods to process used fuel.
• Oklo: study heavy element deposition in molten salt to optimise a pyro-processing plant design.
• Shine Technologies: develop a process design that incorporates transport, storage, and disposal together with hydro-processing of used fuel.