High-speed centrifuge recycles spent nuclear fuel to unlock 90% wasted energy

Spent nuclear fuel could become easier to recycle with a high-speed chemical separation system being developed by Argonne National Laboratory, SHINE and Case Western Reserve University. The partners are working to adapt Argonne’s Packed Centrifugal Equipment for Radiochemical Separation, or PaCERS, for SHINE’s planned nuclear fuel recycling process. The technology uses rapid rotation to create centrifugal forces far stronger than normal gravity, helping separate radioactive materials more efficiently. Unlike conventional approaches that can require large amounts of solvent and multiple processing stages, PaCERS is designed as a high-throughput, lower-solvent system. The goal is to make the chemical separation steps involved...