Argonne scientists look to 3D printing to ease separation anxiety, which paves the way to recycle more nuclear material. //

We can recycle waste from nuclear reactors in several ways, including one method developed by Argonne scientists in the 1970s. With these approaches, nuclear engineers can recycle 95 percent of the spent nuclear fuel from a reactor, leaving only five percent to be stored as long-term waste. But now, for the first time, Argonne scientists have printed 3-D parts that pave the way to recycling even more nuclear waste, as detailed in a Sept. 6 article in Scientific Reports.

At first glance, recycling another two percent of nuclear waste may not sound like much. But it would dramatically reduce both the amount of waste stored and the time it remains hazardous.

“Rather than store five percent for hundreds of thousands of years, the remaining three percent needs to be stored at a maximum of about one thousand years,” said Andrew Breshears, an Argonne nuclear chemist and co-author. ​“In other words, this additional step may reduce the length of storage almost one thousandfold.” And breaking down that nuclear material in a fourth generation fast reactor would generate additional electricity.