Curio submitted a letter of intent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to start the pre-application work and the eventual submission of its operating license for the NuCycle used nuclear fuel recycling facility at a site yet to be determined.
According to Curio’s May 27 press release, site selection is underway for the proposed fuel recycling production facility.
“The initiation of this application process marks a key and decisive moment for Curio and our nation as we commercially deploy what will be the world’s most advanced and capable used nuclear fuel recycling facility based on our game-changing NuCycle technology,” Ed McGinnis, Curio president and CEO, said in the statement.
Curio’s proposed used fuel recycling facility is designed to process up to 4,000 metric tons of commercial spent fuel from light water reactors on an annual basis. The products of the NuCycle process, which was tested and validated by four Department of Energy national laboratories in September 2025, will be enriched uranium hexafluoride, trans-uranic TRUfuel and various isotopes, Curio said.
Curio said the facility will accommodate used nuclear fuel feedstock, ranging from low-enriched light water reactor fuel and high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) to DOE-managed fuel. It will also include a spent fuel feedstock staging facility, the company added.
The company is applying under Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations Part 70 – or 10 CFR Part 70 docket. Once a docket is established, Curio will develop a license application to meet all necessary regulations for a recycling facility.
NRC is capable of licensing a reprocessing/recycling facility under Part 70, as the regulatory framework covers domestic licensing for special nuclear material. However, the nuclear regulator is in the process of providing a new regulatory framework specifically geared towards licensing domestic reprocessing facilities.