A nuclear power plant that has been decommissioned for 30 years will soon help power a new facility with recovered nuclear waste.
The Department of Energy approved Oklo's conceptual safety design report (CSDR) for the Aurora Fuel Fabrication Facility, as Interesting Engineering reported. It will use high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) from the Experimental Breeder Reactor-II and be located at the Idaho National Laboratory.
"The approval of the CSDR is a critical step toward fabricating fuel for Oklo's first commercial deployment," Jess Gehin, INL associate laboratory director for nuclear science and technology, said in a news release. "As the nation's nuclear energy research laboratory, we are committed to partnering with companies like Oklo to advance fission technologies and deliver clean energy solutions."
The next steps include a preconstruction preliminary safety analysis and a documented safety analysis after construction and commissioning.
The recovered highly enriched uranium will be cleaned and mixed with lower-enriched uranium to make HALEU, Interesting Engineering detailed. It requires a high-temperature molten salt chemical bath and an electric current, which separates the highly enriched uranium from the fission products.
After it is formed into ingots, it is broken down into smaller shapes with low doses, which can power advanced reactors such as Oklo's microreactor.
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The developments are promising, and the use of spent fuel minimizes one risk of the generally safe industry. But renewable energy such as solar and wind is even safer and cheaper. In that vein, researchers are working to improve nuclear safety by testing a compound molecule, designing robots to handle radioactive waste, and creating power plants that don't need water for cooling.
The United States has dozens of nuclear reactors, though the number has been ticking down. Twenty-five are in the process of being decommissioned, though the industry is gaining traction in repurposing sites and even building new ones as the demand for clean power and the desire to slow the rapid heating of the planet grows.
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