The United States has enough nuclear waste to power the entire country for 100 years, and doing so would help solve the problem of managing spent nuclear waste.
The Idaho National Laboratory is one of the government's premier energy research labs.
Nuclear waste can be turned into energy with the help of a nuclear fast reactor. The United States government's research lab pilot plant operated from 1960 to the 1990s.
The technology has never been developed commercially. Nuclear power has become a part of the clean energy Zeitgeist due to the increasing importance of addressing climate change by decarbonizing energy grids. Nuclear fast reactor are once again getting a serious look.
The nuclear energy expert at Segra Capital Management and Veriten said it felt like it was real. In 2007, he did his senior project at the University of Florida and remembers his professors arguing about the future of technology.
Scott Burnell is a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. There are some people in the process. Light-water reactor designs are the ones that operate in the US, according to Burnell.
In a light-water reactor, the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller atoms, releasing energy. The steam is created by the heat of the water and is used to power a generator.
The waste left after the nuclear reaction has to be kept safe. An additional 2,000 tons of used fuel is produced each year by the existing nuclear fleet in the US, according to Gehin.
There is still a lot of energy potential left after a light-water reactor has run.
In a light-water reactor, we use half a percent of the energy that comes out of the ground, according to Gehin. If you were to recycle the fuel through fast, you could get a lot of energy.
The faster the reactor, the more efficient the reaction will be.
It is possible to convert spent fuel to plutonium using a fast neutron reactor.
EBR-II exterior view, at Idaho National Lab.Fast nuclear reactor technology has been out of use for more than 50 years. Congress shut down funding for the Experimental Breeder Reactor- II, also known as the Experimental Breeder Reactor- II, until 1994.
Gehin said that the EBR II reactor was run out at the site for 30 years. It has been proven that it can be accomplished. Ensuring that it is done economically is the trick. It is very safe and easy to use. The technology has been proved.
A fast reactor can reduce the amount of waste, but not completely.
The amount of long-lived waste can be reduced.
Nuclear energy was seen as a solution to the exhaustion of fossil fuel supplies.
There were concerns that there wouldn't be enough fuel for the conventional nuclear reactor that the US would need. Gehin told CNBC that fast reactor were developed as a solution to both of the problems.
Things didn't stay the same. We discovered there was quite a bit of the radioactive substance. There wasn't a need to use it as effectively.
Nuclear energy fell out of favor after the accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979.
Economics were also a factor. Natural gas and coal were cheap and plentiful. It was thought to be more expensive to build a fast reactor than a traditional light-water one.
The first commercial fast reactor in the US suffered from cost overruns.
It's fast forward to 2022. With energy prices spiking thanks to Russia's war in Ukraine, and with the growing public cry to move toward sources of energy that don't emit planet warming greenhouse gases, nuclear power is getting another look. Redefining fast reactor technology to make it more cost-effective is one of the things being looked at by innovators.
Russia produces electricity with fast reactor technology. There are plans for India and China to build fast reactor.
The Versatile Test Reactor, a fast-spectrum test reactor, was not funded in the omnibus funding bill. Russia, China, and India have this critical capability because the U.S. has not had a pilot test facility for almost three decades.
Oklo and TerraPower are two start-ups that are working on fast reactor technologies.
The control room of EBR-II at Idaho National Lab.There are significant infrastructure hurdles for private companies to overcome.
Nuclear waste has to be reprocessed before it can be used for power. Russia has the ability to do this. Gehin said that France has the ability to recycle used nuclear waste, but it takes its recycled fuel and puts it back into the water.
Gehin told CNBC that the Idaho National Lab is able to process enough fuel for research and development.
Private companies are trying to develop domestic fuel supply chains. TerraPower and Oklo both say they are investing in supply chains and working with elected leaders to build political support.
The HALEU fuel can be created from scratch instead of using nuclear waste. The HALEU is enriched up to 20%.
Gehin says that it is easier to produce HalEU directly than it is to recycle. What makes sense economically will be the main driver of it. Russia is the only country that has the ability to make a commercial product.
Jacob says he is bullish on recycled fuel even after commercial production.
It looks like this could be more attractive than fresh fuel. The waste is recycled into feed material for fuel. The facility will be up and running in the late part of the decade.
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