SHINE to Advance Spent Fuel Recycling Separation Technology with Argonne National Laboratory and Others

On August 18, fusion energy company SHINE announced that it will collaborate with the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University to apply high-throughput chemical separation technology to the nuclear fuel recycling process it is currently developing. The collaboration is carried out under the CURIE program of the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), with additional funding led by Case Western Reserve University, and SHINE participates as a subcontractor.

Spent fuel is often referred to as nuclear "waste," but it retains approximately 90% of its energy potential while containing multiple reusable byproducts. In recent years, federal programs and private investment in the United States have driven renewed interest in spent fuel recycling. Argonne National Laboratory is developing a new chemical processing device called "Packed Centrifugal Equipment for Radiochemical Separation," abbreviated as PaCERS. The device generates centrifugal force exceeding normal gravity conditions through high-speed rotation to improve chemical separation efficiency, and reduces costs across multiple stages of nuclear fuel recycling through higher throughput and lower solvent usage.

Under the collaboration arrangement, SHINE will work with Argonne National Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University to advance the application of PaCERS technology in multiple separation processes, including the separation of radioactive isotopes such as strontium-90 and americium-241. These isotopes can be used in medical applications, manufacturing, and advanced power systems. PaCERS technology will also be incorporated into minor actinide recovery processes to handle long-lived radioactive materials remaining after the extraction of other elements.

SHINE Chief Technology Officer Ross Radel stated that spent fuel contains many valuable recoverable materials, and the company is already conducting radioactive material separation in medical isotope production, hoping to apply that experience to advancing PaCERS technology toward practical deployment.

In longer-term planning, SHINE intends to use fusion-generated neutrons to transmute long-lived radioactive isotopes, thereby reducing the isolation time required for such radioactive waste from thousands of years to decades. The company is currently validating the transmutation capability of fusion neutrons for such isotopes through another U.S. Department of Energy-funded project.

SHINE also stated that the company is participating in another project aimed at practical nuclear fuel recycling, focusing on modernizing nuclear material control and accounting systems. The aforementioned technologies will serve SHINE's nuclear fuel recycling process called REDUCE, which stands for "Recycle Useful Elements, Destroy Unwanted Substances, Create Energy." The process aims to efficiently extract uranium, plutonium, and other high-value materials from spent fuel with proliferation-resistant features, while promoting the commercialization of advanced recycling technologies.