“Responsible management of used nuclear fuel is essential to the future of nuclear energy in the United States,” said Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish. “The establishment of the Center for Used Fuel Research at Idaho National Laboratory strengthens the department’s ability to manage used nuclear fuel and unleash the next American nuclear renaissance, while delivering reliable, affordable, and secure energy for American families and businesses.”
Hub-and-spoke model: According to the DOE, the director of the CUFR will be based at INL, while the center’s chief technology officer will be located at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.
As the lead institution, INL will coordinate collaboration through a hub-and-spoke model. This network will encompass other national laboratories within the DOE complex, as well as universities and U.S. industry partners. The center is also to extend its support and actively collaborate with international partners.
The DOE said the model will enable the department to more effectively collaborate with the many stakeholders interested in the management of commercial and DOE-managed spent fuel, including utilities, vendors, government offices and contractors, and research organizations.
The CUFR will serve as the research arm of the DOE Office of Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste’s sub-Office of Storage and Transportation. Universities, meanwhile, will participate in the CUFR through the DOE’s Nuclear Energy University Program.
Idaho agreement: According to the DOE, the CUFR delivers on a key element of the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement by reinforcing INL’s role as the DOE’s lead institution for research on spent fuel. That agreement set milestones for the DOE to remove legacy waste from the state while also prohibiting INL from receiving shipments of spent fuel from commercial reactors.
In May 2025, Idaho agreed to a waiver of the settlement agreement, allowing the DOE to ship a cask containing high-burnup spent fuel assemblies currently stored at the North Anna nuclear power plant to INL for research into spent fuel dry storage. That shipment is expected to occur in 2027.
Designating INL as the lead lab for the CUFR does not otherwise alter or override the provisions of the 1995 Idaho Settlement Agreement or its subsequent amendments regarding the shipment of spent fuel into the state, according to the DOE.
Likewise, the DOE said that the CUFR will focus exclusively on issues related to the safe storage and transportation of spent nuclear fuel and will not conduct direct research into disposal or reprocessing and recycling.
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