The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy awarded over $19 million to five American companies on February 5, 2026, to fund research and development of technologies for recycling used nuclear fuel. The awards support President Trump’s nuclear energy agenda by targeting increased resource utilization, reduced waste volume, and decreased reliance on foreign sources of enriched uranium.
What it means
The funding addresses the low efficiency of current commercial reactor operations, which extract less than five percent of the potential energy in nuclear fuel after five years. According to the Department of Energy, recycling used nuclear fuel could increase resource utilization by 95 percent and reduce waste volume by 90 percent. The projects also aim to decrease the amount of uranium needed to operate reactors and enable the recovery of valuable radioisotopes for medical, industrial, and defense purposes.
The five selected companies must meet strict nonproliferation standards and national security goals while providing a minimum 20 percent cost share. Alpha Nur Inc. will research recovering highly enriched uranium from used fuel produced by U.S.-based research reactors and transforming it into high assay low enrichment uranium for small modular reactor designs. Curio Solutions, LLC will develop a process to produce uranium hexafluoride gas from used fuel. Flibe Energy Inc. will study electrochemical methods for processing used nuclear fuel. Oklo Inc. will examine heavy element deposition in molten salt to optimize pyro-processing plant design. Shine Technologies, LLC will develop a process design incorporating transport, storage, and disposal with hydro-processing of used fuel. The projects will last up to three years and support two recent executive orders by President Trump regarding advanced reactor technologies and the domestic nuclear industrial base.
Key facts
- $19 million: total amount awarded to five U.S. companies
- February 5, 2026: date of award announcement
- Five: number of companies receiving awards
- Less than five percent: potential energy extracted from nuclear fuel after five years in a commercial reactor
- 95 percent: potential increase in resource utilization via recycling
- 90 percent: potential reduction in waste volume via recycling
- Three years: maximum duration of funded projects
- 20 percent: minimum cost share required from each recipient
Source: U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy news release (energy.gov)