| Project Detail |
CurioTM will research the advanced head-end processing and fluorination steps of its UNF recycling process, NuCycleTM, at the laboratory scale to derisk the NuCycle process. NuCycle is a modular, integrated, compact, and proliferation-hardened process designed to avoid production of pure plutonium (Pu) streams and dramatically reduce waste volumes compared with existing processes. NuCycle significantly reduces facility footprints, leverages well-understood chemical processes, and accommodates a variety of fuel types, including molten salts and nitride fuels. The advanced head-end processing and fluorination steps will produce UF6 that is suitable for re-enrichment while keeping plutonium with the remaining actinides and fission products for further processing. Using safeguards-by-design principles, Curio will also design a material control and accountability system for the NuCycle facility that will enable <1% uncertainty in actinide accounting.
Potential Impact:
By enabling the secure and economical recycling of the nation’s inventory of LWR UNF, CURIE will have the following impacts: |
