SHINE Joins GE Vernova-Led Project to Modernize Nuclear Fuel Reprocessing Materials Accountability

SHINE Technologies (SHINE) announced on August 18 that it has joined a nuclear fuel reprocessing materials management project led by GE Vernova (GE Vernova), with both parties collaborating on tracking, measurement, and nuclear materials accountability of spent fuel during the reprocessing process.

The project is led by GE Vernova's Advanced Research Center and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), with the goal of introducing artificial intelligence technologies into reprocessing facilities to improve real-time monitoring of spent fuel flow and the efficiency of nuclear materials accounting. As a subcontractor to GE Vernova, SHINE will participate in improving sensor deployment schemes and developing an AI-supported materials tracking system, ensuring that nuclear materials control and accountability requirements are incorporated into the overall design at the early stages of reprocessing facility development.

The key technology being developed under the project is called "Monochromatic Assays Yielding Enhanced Reliability" (MAYER). This technology is designed for spent fuel reprocessing facilities, with plans to perform real-time tracking and measurement of nuclear materials as they flow through the process systems, and to feed the data into a virtual digital twin system to strengthen nuclear security and safeguards while reducing operational costs.

Currently, nuclear facility operators typically rely on redundant instrumentation, physical security measures, repeated manual sampling, and periodic shutdown or outage inventories to verify nuclear materials inventory within facilities. Nuclear materials control and accountability is part of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) safeguards system, designed to prevent nuclear materials from being stolen or diverted to other uses.

SHINE stated that participating in the MAYER project also serves its long-term goal of building a commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing facility. The company hopes that by improving materials tracking and accountability technologies, the relevant facilities could qualify for a lower security classification category, thereby reducing physical security burdens and associated costs.

SHINE is developing a nuclear fuel reprocessing process called REDUCE, which stands for "Recover Elements—Decrease Unwanted Constituents—Create Energy," with the goal of efficiently extracting uranium, plutonium, and other high-value materials from spent fuel in a proliferation-resistant manner. The company stated that such technologies will support its plans to advance the commercial application of advanced reprocessing technologies and convert nuclear "waste" into usable energy resources.