(32a) Recent Advances in the U.S. Fuel Cycle R&D Program

The United States Fuel Cycle Research and Development program is investigating advanced nuclear fuel recycle technologies. To enable a sustainable nuclear energy future, these technologies must be cost effective, allow for safeguarding of fissile material, and generate minimal waste volumes. The overall goal is to reduce the long-term radiotoxicity of the used fuel, by separation and transmutation of actinides, so that the majority of the fuel requires management on engineering time scales rather than geologic time scales. Particular emphasis is placed on the separation of americium and curium from the lanthanide elements, as this is a challenging separation to make under industrially-robost conditions. An overview of recent results, along with examples of research into innovative technologies will be presented.