Texas A&M researchers developing game-changing clean nuclear fuel, TEES

With the intensity of the ongoing climate change debate, scientists and engineers are looking for cleaner energy sources to replace fossil fuels. Nuclear energy is one such possibility, but innovations are being sought to enhance the promise of clean nuclear energy. A team from Texas A&M University has established a collaboration to explore the potential of an innovative, new type of thorium-based fuel. TEES

Researchers in the Nuclear Engineering and Science Center (NESC) at Texas A&M and the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Idaho National Laboratory (INL) have partnered with Clean Core Thorium Energy (CCTE), a Chicago-based company, to fabricate a proprietary thorium-based nuclear fuel called Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life (ANEEL). This fuel is a combination of thorium and high-assay low-enriched uranium and addresses issues including cost, safety, proliferation and waste management.