WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) inviting universities, national laboratories, and industry to compete for up to $15 million to advance nuclear technologies closing the nuclear fuel cycle.  These projects will provide necessary data and analyses to further U.S. nuclear fuel cycle technology development, as part of the Department’s Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI), the domestic technology R&D component of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP).  Studies resulting from this FOA will include computing and simulation of spent fuel technology, advanced fuel systems analyses and properties of future waste forms.  This announcement builds on over $328 million that DOE has provided to universities, national labs and industry since GNEP was announced in February 2006.

“To ensure that we have enough energy to meet growing demands, DOE is partnering with experts across the board to develop the necessary technology to advance the current state of nuclear energy and close the nuclear fuel cycle,” said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis Spurgeon.  “Harnessing the power of technology will bring about the solutions to decrease the quantity and radiotoxicity of spent fuel, reduce the proliferation risk and lower greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing our nation’s energy security.”

In the FOA issued today, DOE is seeking applicants from industry, universities and national laboratories to conduct R&D in the following areas: Used Fuel Separations Technology, Advanced Nuclear Fuel Development, Fast Burner Reactors and Advanced Transmutation Systems, Advanced Fuel Cycle Systems Analysis, Advanced Computing and Simulation, Safeguards and Advanced Waste Forms.  Responses are due by May 8, 2008. 

As part of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative, GNEP aims to accelerate development and deployment of advanced fuel cycle technologies to encourage clean energy development worldwide, responsibly manage nuclear waste, and reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation.  In March 2008, DOE announced the next stage of awards to four industry consortia, AREVA Federal Services, LLC; EnergySolutions, LLC; GE-Hitachi Nuclear Americas, LLC; and General Atomics, which included $18 million for additional studies on GNEP conceptual design, technology development roadmaps, and business plans.  Over the past two years, DOE has also awarded universities approximately $39 million for research grants and fellowships, to upgrade laboratories and reactor facilities and purchase state-of-the-art equipment for researching advanced nuclear fuel cycle technology.  DOE’s national labs received approximately $182 million to advance domestic nuclear technology development through AFCI.

View the full contents of the Funding Opportunity Announcement on Grants.gov under number: DE-PS07-08ID14906.

Learn more about GNEP and DOE’s other nuclear energy programs at the Office of Nuclear Energy.

Media contact(s):
Angela Hill, (202) 586-4940