US Bets on New Tech to Turn Nuclear Waste into a Clean Energy Asset

NEW YORK, NY – April 02, 2026 – The U.S. government is backing a pioneering effort to solve one of the nation's most persistent energy challenges: its growing stockpile of used nuclear fuel. The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) has awarded a significant contract to Project Omega, a Newport-based technology firm, to advance a novel platform designed to recycle this so-called “waste” into a valuable resource.

In a strategic partnership with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), the nation's leading center for nuclear energy research, Project Omega will accelerate the development of its molten-salt electrochemical recycling technology. The project, funded under ARPA-E’s CURIE program, aims to validate a process that could unlock the vast energy potential remaining in used fuel, dramatically reduce long-term waste storage burdens, and fortify America's energy independence.

“Spent nuclear fuel is one of the most underutilized energy resources in the United States,” said Dr. 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.”

A 100,000-Ton Conundrum

For decades, the United States has accumulated used nuclear fuel from its commercial reactor fleet with no long-term disposal or recycling solution. This has resulted in approximately 100,000 metric tons of material being stored at reactor sites across the country—a growing logistical and financial liability for taxpayers. Paradoxically, this material is far from being simple waste; it contains more than 90 percent of its original potential energy.

“The U.S. has approximately 100,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel containing more than 90 percent of its original energy value — and no industrial capability to recover it,” explained Dr. John Wagner, Director of the Idaho National Laboratory. The lack of an industrial-scale recycling capability represents a significant missed opportunity and a stark contrast to the strategies employed by other nuclear-powered nations.

This initiative seeks to fundamentally change that paradigm. By converting a liability into an asset, the project tackles the dual challenges of waste management and energy security. Success would not only provide a sustainable path for managing existing used fuel but also generate a domestic supply of fuel for the next generation of advanced reactors, which are a cornerstone of a future low-carbon energy grid.

A Cleaner, Safer Approach to Recycling

At the heart of the project is Project Omega's innovative recycling technology, which represents a significant departure from legacy methods. Historically, nuclear fuel reprocessing has relied on aqueous methods, such as the PUREX process, which uses nitric acid to dissolve fuel and separate components. While effective, these methods generate large volumes of secondary liquid radioactive waste and, critically, can be configured to separate pure plutonium, raising nuclear proliferation concerns that have historically hindered their adoption in the U.S.

Project Omega’s platform is entirely non-aqueous. It employs molten salts as a solvent and uses electrochemical processes—akin to commercially proven metal-refining techniques—to separate valuable materials from the used fuel. This pyroprocessing approach has several key advantages:

• Reduced Waste: It avoids the creation of large secondary wastewater streams, resulting in a more compact and stable final waste form.
• Enhanced Safety: The process is designed to be inherently proliferation-resistant. It co-extracts actinides, including plutonium, with other elements, never isolating a pure stream of weapons-usable material.
• High Efficiency: The electrochemical method can achieve high-purity separations, recovering valuable isotopes that can be used to fuel advanced reactors or for medical and industrial applications.

The ARPA-E award will support kilogram-scale prototype testing at Idaho National Laboratory. This crucial step is designed to validate the system’s performance and generate the detailed engineering data needed to design and construct a larger, pilot-scale facility.

Fueling Innovation Through Public-Private Partnership

This project is a prime example of the strategic role played by ARPA-E, which was created to fund high-risk, high-reward energy technologies that are too early-stage for private-sector investment alone. The agency’s CURIE (Converting UNF Radioisotopes Into Energy) program, which funds this work, is a targeted, multi-million dollar effort to develop technologies that can make used fuel recycling safer, more affordable, and easier to deploy.

“ARPA-E supports efforts that move promising technologies toward real-world deployment,” noted ARPA-E Director, Conner Prochaska. “Through this work, Project Omega will partner with Idaho National Laboratory to advance nuclear fuel recycling technologies and help translate national laboratory innovation into capabilities that advance American leadership in nuclear energy.”

The CURIE program has stringent goals, challenging its funded projects to reduce the volume of high-level waste by at least an order of magnitude and to develop processes that are economically competitive. The collaboration between Project Omega's agile innovation and the world-class facilities and expertise at INL embodies the public-private partnership model that ARPA-E champions.

“INL's partnership with Project Omega through ARPA-E's CURIE program is focused on changing that,” Dr. Wagner stated, referencing the lack of U.S. recycling capability. “Validating this molten-salt electrochemical platform at kilogram scale is the kind of rigorous, data-driven work needed to move fuel recycling from concept to deployable infrastructure."

Rebuilding a Strategic National Capability

The ultimate vision extends beyond a single technology. Successfully demonstrating a viable, domestic fuel recycling capability would have profound strategic implications for the United States. It would create a closed nuclear fuel cycle, enhancing energy security by reducing reliance on foreign uranium and enrichment services. Furthermore, it would provide a secure supply chain of specialized fuels required by many advanced reactor designs currently under development.

By recovering valuable materials, the project also supports national security missions and strengthens domestic isotope supply chains for medical, industrial, and scientific applications. Project Omega's plan to construct a pilot facility capable of processing multiple types of used nuclear fuel is the next step in rebuilding a critical piece of the U.S. nuclear infrastructure that has been missing for decades. This ARPA-E project is designed to move beyond laboratory research and toward deployable infrastructure that supports both civilian energy systems and national security missions, charting a course for a more resilient and sustainable energy future.