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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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The journey of the U.S. fuel cycle
Craig Piercycpiercy@ans.org
While most big journeys begin with a clear objective, they rarely start with an exact knowledge of the route. When commissioning the Lewis and Clark expedition in 1803, President Thomas Jefferson didn’t provide specific “turn right at the big mountain” directions to the Corps of Discovery. He gave goal-oriented instructions: explore the Missouri River, find its source, search for a transcontinental water route to the Pacific, and build scientific and cultural knowledge along the way.
Jefferson left it up to Lewis and Clark to turn his broad, geopolitically motivated guidance into gritty reality.
Similarly, U.S. nuclear policy has begun a journey toward closing the U.S. nuclear fuel cycle. There is a clear signal of support for recycling from the Trump administration, along with growing bipartisan excitement in Congress. Yet the precise path remains unclear.
Sang Mun Jeong, Jin-Mok Hur, Sun Seok Hong, Dae Seung Kang, Myoung Soo Choung, Chung-Seok Seo, Ji-Sup Yoon, Seong-Won Park
Nuclear Technology | Volume 162 | Number 2 | May 2008 | Pages 184-191
Technical Paper | First International Pyroprocessing Research Conference | doi.org/10.13182/NT162-184
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute is currently developing the Advanced Spent-Fuel Conditioning Process (ACP) based on a pyrochemical process. An electrochemical reduction process has been developed as a key unit of the ACP. In this work, an electrochemical reduction of U3O8 powder in a LiCl-Li2O molten salt has been investigated in an electrochemical cell with a unique cathode assembly, which consists of a porous magnesia membrane, oxide powder, and a solid electricity conductor. The experimental results suggest successful demonstration of this process, exhibiting a reduction conversion of U3O8 of >99% for a batch.
