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Agencies to Explore Nuclear Recycling Technology
in the Valley
The agreement establishes a framework for the agencies to work together as they research new ways to recycle and reuse fuel for commercial nuclear plants. The collaboration could result in a plan to locate the nation’s first nuclear recycling facility in the Tennessee Valley.
Sessions, a member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and a leading supporter of efforts to recycle nuclear material, applauded the agencies’ decision to work together.
“This agreement represents an important step forward for the future of nuclear power in our country,” Sessions said. “By joining the Department of Energy in this research, TVA positions itself as the world leader in the development of advanced recycling technology” said Sessions.
Under the agreement, DOE and TVA will research advanced nuclear recycling technology, evaluate and assess the feasibility of recycling nuclear fuel for commercial reactors, and develop conceptual plans for the deployment of a recycling facility.
The agreement places TVA at the forefront of developing nuclear recycling technology and positions the agency to host the first of a kind recycling facility in the United States.
“Nuclear energy is our best source of clean, safe and reliable base load electric power,” Sessions said. “Development of this recycling technology is important because it would simultaneously reduce the waste product and increase the amount of usable nuclear fuel, which could lead to the generation of electricity at a lower cost. We are many years away from using this advanced technology on a commercial scale, but other countries have had great success safely reprocessing fuel.”
TVA currently operates six nuclear reactors that serve approximately 8.8 million consumers. The utility recently restarted a nuclear unit at its Browns Ferry plant near Athens and has submitted a Combined Operating License application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for two advanced reactors at its Bellefonte site in Hollywood.
Nuclear power generates about 23 percent of the electricity consumed in Alabama.
Proper disposal of nuclear waste has been a roadblock in the deployment of new nuclear facilities in the United States. Unlike many other sources of energy, commercial nuclear plants do not emit pollutants or greenhouse gases. Nuclear reactors leave behind only a small amount of solid, low-yield waste which must be stored or recycled.
Nuclear recycling technology was first developed by American scientists during World War II. Nuclear recycling uses physical and chemical processes to recapture more than 90 percent of the unused energy in spent nuclear fuel. The recovered material can be sent back to commercial nuclear plants and used to create electricity.
The Memorandum of Understanding announced today was signed by the DOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy, Dennis Spurgeon and TVA Chief Operating Officer William McCollum.
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