The Department of Energy has awarded over $19 million to five nuclear companies to research and develop fuel recycling technology for spent nuclear fuel.
According to DOE’s Feb. 5 press release, the five selected companies were:
- Chicago-based Alpha Nur will research and validate a process that recovers highly enriched uranium from used fuel by domestic research reactors. The company will transform it to a usable high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) form for small modular reactors (SMRs).
- Washington, D.C.-based Curio Solutions will create a process designed to produce hexafluoride gas from spent fuel.
- Huntsville, Ala.-based Flibe Energy to analyze the use of electromagnetic methods to process spent fuel.
- Santa Clara, Calif.-based Oklo will study heavy element disposition in molten salt to enhance a pyro-processing plant design.
- Janesville, Wisc.-based Shine Technologies to develop a process design that integrates transport, storage and disposal together with hydro-processing of spent nuclear fuel.
The projects will last up to three years and require at least 20% shared cost from each recipient, according to the release.
DOE said that recycling could increase resource use by 95%, reduce nuclear waste by 90% and decrease the amount of uranium used by nuclear reactors. Another benefit of recycling is the ability to recover and extract radioisotopes for defense, industrial and medical purposes, the agency added.
“Used nuclear fuel is an incredible untapped resource in the United States,” Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish said in the release. “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.”
President Donald Trump’s administration decided to reevaluate nuclear fuel recycling as part of its national waste management strategy. Correspondingly, a handful of companies such as Curio and Oklo, have shown interest in developing recycling projects.