The U.S. Energy Department on Thursday announced $36 million for projects addressing toxic waste expected to come from a new generation of nuclear reactors.
The 11 projects, funded through the department’s ARPA-E program supporting energy research into high risk, but potentially transformational projects, aim to accelerate technologies to tackle waste from advanced reactor fuel cycles as the administration aims to launch their deployment.
The new reactors would likely produce less but more concentrated radioactive waste than today’s plants. Department officials said the projects are trying to get ahead of the waste issue before the reactors become commercial, which they hope will happen sometime in the 2030s.
The Biden administration has sought to spur deployment of the reactors to generate virtually emissions-free power and supplement intermittent power sources like wind and solar as states strive to cut emissions causing climate change. It also hopes to export the technology.
One of the recipients of the grants is TerraPower, a venture founded by billionaire Bill Gates that hopes to build a $4 billion advanced reactor demonstration plant in Wyoming with support from the Energy Department.
The venture will receive more than $8.5 million to work on a method for safely recovering uranium from used nuclear fuel that handles the volatility of chloride salts used at high temperatures.
Another project by the Idaho National Laboratory will get $2 million for demonstrating metal fuel recycling, while a project called Oklo in California will get $4 million to study the viability of a used nuclear fuel recycling facility.
Other projects include one that turns waste into dense cement and one that seeks to bury waste deep into the ground.
