A new agreement has been signed between Oklo and the Argonne National Laboratory to commercialise advanced fuel recycling technology.

The project involves work with electrorefining technology to recycle fuel for use in advanced fission power plants, which is expected to help reduce fuel costs and supply chain risks.

The partnership is an outcome of a cost-share project awarded by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Technology Commercialisation Fund (TCF).

Oklo is matching the DOE funding to commercialise the technology, with the two organisations aiming to accelerate the deployment of emission-free energy to market cost-effectively, aided by advanced fuel recycling capabilities.

The company’s combined licence application, the first for an advanced fission technology, was accepted by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 2020.

Oklo’s first product is the Aurora fission plant concept design, which produces 1.5MW of electric power and can save one million tons of carbon emissions over the fossil fuel alternative during its operation.

Jacob DeWitte, Co-founder and CEO of Oklo said: “This partnership with Argonne will help reduce fuel costs for advanced reactors and therefore overall costs for power from advanced fission.

“There are tremendous energy reserves in used fuel that can provide emission-free power for entire nations for centuries while reducing the volume and radiological lifetime of waste material.”

Article source: https://www.energylivenews.com/2022/02/17/new-agreement-inked-to-commercialise-advanced-fuel-recycling/