SHINE Joins GE Vernova-Led ARPA-E Project to Modernize Nuclear Material Accountability in Fuel Recycling

As U.S. nuclear fuel recycling moves toward commercial reality, SHINE, a fusion energy company with a platform serving the nuclear fuel recycling market, is working with GE Vernova on a project to develop a modernized and more efficient system to track spent fuel throughout the recycling process.

Led by GE Vernova's Advanced Research Center, the company's central technology development hub, the project — funded by the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program — aims to use artificial intelligence to optimize spent nuclear fuel tracking and measurement at recycling facilities.

As a GE Vernova subcontractor, SHINE is developing improved sensor deployment and AI-powered material-tracking systems that would help incorporate material control and accountability into nuclear fuel recycling facilities from the very start.

"There's a better way to handle material control and accountability at spent nuclear fuel recycling facilities — one that doesn't mean permanent cost and disruption," said Ross Radel, SHINE CTO.

Economic viability is at the core of the project, which is developing technology known as Monochromatic Assays Yielding Enhanced Reliability, or MAYER, for spent nuclear fuel recycling facilities.

The technology is intended to track and measure nuclear material in real time as it flows through a recycling facility and feed that information into a virtual digital twin, strengthening security safeguards while significantly reducing operating costs.

Currently, nuclear operators may use redundant instrumentation, physical security measures, repeated manual sampling and periodic shutdowns to carry out inventory checks of nuclear material within a facility.

Material control and accounting are part of a larger safeguards program run by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to ensure nuclear material is not stolen or otherwise diverted.

SHINE's work on the MAYER project supports its broader goal of building a commercial nuclear fuel recycling facility that would be classified in a lower-security NRC category, significantly reducing the physical security burden and cost.

Along with the MAYER collaboration, SHINE announced today another partnership designed to pave the way for practical nuclear fuel recycling that turns nuclear "waste" into an energy resource.

These technologies support the cost competitiveness SHINE is seeking in its Recover Elements – Destroy Undesirables – Create Energy nuclear fuel recycling process, called REDUCE for short.

Together, they advance SHINE's work toward the first commercial application of advanced recycling technologies that aim to enable the efficient, proliferation-resistant extraction of uranium, plutonium and other high-value materials from spent nuclear fuel.

SHINE is a fusion energy company headquartered in Janesville, Wisconsin. We are leading the transition to the fusion economy through a vertically-integrated platform that supplies critical products to global markets, each one funding the next.

Today, we supply defense and research customers with neutron-based testing.

Our medical radioisotopes diagnose heart disease and treat cancer, and the world's largest commercial-scale medical isotope facility is now under construction.

We are developing the technology to recycle used nuclear fuel, targeting a commercial pilot to draw down the 94,000 metric tons that have accumulated in the United States.

Our long-term purpose is to put fusion energy on the grid. Learn more at www.shinefusion.com.

GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE: GEV ) is a purpose-built global energy company th...