Pioneering a Cermet Waste Form for Disposal of Waste Streams from Advanced Reactors (PACE-FORWARD)

Default ARPA-E Project Image

Program:
ONWARDS
Award:
$3,999,595
Location:
New Brunswick, New Jersey
Status:
ACTIVE
Project Term:
05/23/2022 - 10/14/2025
Website:

Critical Need:

The next generation of advanced nuclear reactors (ARs) is currently being developed to enhance the safety, reduce the cost, and increase the efficiency of nuclear power generation, which is important to meeting greenhouse gas (GHG) emission goals. Challenges associated with disposal pathways of waste, such as used nuclear fuel (UNF), however, threaten AR development and deployment. ONWARDS seeks to develop and demonstrate breakthrough technologies that will facilitate a 10x reduction in AR waste volume generation or repository footprint. In addition, ONWARDS aims to advance development of high-performance AR waste forms while maintaining exemplary safeguards standards and global back-end costs in the accepted range of $1/megawatt-hour.

Project Innovation + Advantages:

Rutgers University aims to develop and demonstrate PACE-FORWARD, a high-density, durable cermet waste form (WF) suitable to immobilize all forms of AR wastes, significantly reducing processing complexity. The proposed WF will exhibit high waste loading (≥70% by volume) and immobilize multiple waste streams, including metal, salt (halide), and oxides from molten salt fueled or metallic fueled reactors; or metal and carbon-14/carbide waste from reprocessing of tri-structural isotropic fuel particles. Rutgers’s technology will reduce the repository footprint by greater than an order of magnitude compared with light water reactors and reduce production and operation and maintenance costs by approximately 50% compared with incumbent technologies.

Potential Impact:

By identifying and addressing challenges at the back end of the fuel cycle before the deployment of future AR technologies, ONWARDS will:

Security:

Support the growth of advanced nuclear energy with safe and sustainable domestic fuel stocks.

Environment:

Play a vital role in significantly reducing GHG emissions, proactively mitigate the disposal impact of AR UNF with integrated non-proliferation safeguards, and provide transformative solutions to improve the management and disposal of radioactive waste and UNF.

Economy:

Complement ARPA-E’s existing nuclear energy research portfolio, such as the MEITNER and GEMINA programs in AR R&D, further ensuring the commercial viability of innovative new ARs.

Contact

ARPA-E Program Director:
Dr. Robert Ledoux
Project Contact:
Prof. Ashutosh Goel
Press and General Inquiries Email:
ARPA-E-Comms@hq.doe.gov
Project Contact Email:
ag1179@soe.rutgers.edu

Partners

Savannah River National Laboratory
Washington State University
Missouri University of Science and Technology
University of South Carolina
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Alfred University

Related Projects

• Brigham Young University (BYU) - Two-Step Chloride Volatility Process for Reprocessing Used Nuclear Fuel from Advanced Reactors
• Citrine Informatics - Novel Phosphate Waste Forms to Enable Efficient Dehalogenation and Immobilization of Salt Waste
• Deep Isolation - UPWARDS: Universal Performance Criteria and Canister for Advanced Reactor Waste Form Acceptance in Borehole and Mined Repositories Considering Design Safety
• General Electric (GE) Global Research - Resonance Absorption Densitometry for Materials Assay Security Safeguards (RADMASS)
• Idaho National Laboratory (INL) - Traveling Molten Zone Refining Process Development for Innovative Fuel Cycle Solutions
• Oklo - Enabling the Near Term Commercialization of an Electrorefining Facility to Close the Metal Fuel Cycle
• Orano Federal Services - Off-Gas Treatment Process for Conditioning and Recycling Facilities
• Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) - Metal-Halide Perovskites as Innovative and Cost-Effective Fluoride Salt Waste Forms
• Rutgers University - Pioneering a Cermet Waste Form for Disposal of Waste Streams from Advanced Reactors (PACE-FORWARD)
• Stony Brook University - MATRICY: Matrix Engineered TRISO Compacts Enabling Advanced Reactor Fuel Cycles
• TerraPower - Chloride-Based Volatility for Waste Reduction and/or Reuse of Metallic-, Oxide- and Salt-Based Reactor Fuels

Release Date:
05/19/2021