NERS joins ARPA-E NEWTON project to transform nuclear waste disposal
Professors Won Sik Yang and Xiaodong Sun will support the Argonne National Laboratory-led project.
Won Sik Yang and Xiaodong Sun, professors of nuclear engineering and radiological sciences, will contribute their expertise to a project funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). The project, led by Argonne National Laboratory, is part of ARPA-E’s Nuclear Energy Waste Transmutation Optimized Now (NEWTON) program, which aims to develop innovative solutions for reducing the impact of used nuclear fuel (UNF) storage.
The project, Liquid Lead Suspended Fuel Subcritical Fission Blanket for Nuclear Waste Transmutation, received $7 million to develop a novel transmutation system that could dramatically reduce the mass, volume, and long-term radioactivity of nuclear waste. The system consists of a proton accelerator, a liquid lead-based subcritical fission blanket, and an advanced centrifugal separation process designed to efficiently remove fission products. A key innovation involves suspending nanometer-scale minor actinide particles in the liquid lead blanket, enabling effective transmutation of long-lived radioactive elements.
This effort aligns with the broader goals of the NEWTON program, which was launched with $40 million in funding across 11 projects. By developing new transmutation technologies, ARPA-E aims to significantly shorten the timescales for nuclear waste disposal and reduce the long-term costs associated with deep geological storage. Currently, the U.S. has no operational permanent disposal facility for civilian nuclear waste, and projections estimate that such a facility could cost over $96 billion over its 150-year lifetime. The advancements pursued under NEWTON seek to enable the economic transmutation of the entire U.S. commercial UNF stockpile within just 30 years.
As experts in reactor physics and nuclear system modeling, Yang and Sun bring crucial insights to the Argonne-led effort, supporting the neutronics and thermal-hydraulics design and safety analysis of the fission blanket that integrates with the innovative waste management strategies. Their involvement reinforces NERS’ commitment to cutting-edge research in nuclear energy and waste reduction.For more information on the ARPA-E NEWTON program and the funded projects, see ARPA-E’s official announcement.