Project Omega and INL to further investigate UNF recycling with ARPA-E award

Nuclear technology start-up Project Omega announced that it has been awarded a contract through the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) to advance used nuclear fuel recycling. Project Omega said the award will be used to validate key components of its molten salt electrochemical recycling platform designed to process UNF, recover valuable isotopes, and reduce long-term waste management challenges.

Project Omega is working with Idaho National Laboratory on the project, which will demonstrate novel inert anodes used in the molten salt electrochemical reduction of UNF. Data collected will be used by Project Omega to advance its plans for a pilot UNF processing facility.

"Spent nuclear fuel is one of the most underutilized energy resources in the United States," said Stafford Sheehan, CEO and founder of Project Omega. "With INL, we're demonstrating a practical, industrial pathway to recover that energy, reduce taxpayer liabilities for long-term waste management, and rebuild a critical capability in the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. ARPA-E's support allows us to accelerate this technology toward pilot-scale deployment."

The project: In 2022, INL was awarded $2.6 million through ARPA-E's Converting UNF Radioisotopes Into Energy (CURIE) Program for the project, "Development of Robust Anode Materials for the Electrochemical Recovery of Actinide Elements from the Used Nuclear Fuel."

The INL project, which had an end date of April 2, was to investigate the design, fabrication, and testing of robust anode materials for recovering actinide elements from UNF through the molten-salt electrochemical process.

According to Project Omega, the new contract will support kilogram-scale prototype testing at INL designed to validate system performance and generate the mass-balanced engineering data required for pilot-scale deployment of the recycling technology.

DOE exclusion: On March 12, the DOE issued a categorical exclusion for the project funding, meaning the department has determined the work does not require either an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement.

The funding, the DOE said, will be used by the Project Omega team to "(1) test and validate anode material performance; (2) develop initial prototype system, test and validate performance metrics; (3) develop model process map for prototype pilot scale system; (4) test and validate model prototype pilot system; (5) finalize pilot system design for next stage development."

The technology: According to Project Omega, its nonaqueous processing method does not generate the large secondary wastewater streams associated with aqueous methods.

Likewise, the molten salt electrochemical process achieves high-purity separations without isolating pure plutonium, minimizing proliferation risks while leveraging commercially proven electrochemical metal-refining techniques, the company added.

Project Omega emerged from stealth mode in February with plans to construct a pilot facility capable of processing multiple types of UNF and recovering materials that can support advanced reactors, domestic isotope supply chains, and next-generation power systems.