The US Department of Energy (DOE) is asking the public for its input on plans to create a new programme to assure the availability of high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) fuel - needed for the demonstration and commercial deployment of advanced reactors - in the USA. Meanwhile, Centrus is working with Clean Core Thorium Energy on advanced fuel using HALEU and thorium. (Photo: Centrus)

Nuclear fuel supplier Centrus Energy Corporation and new innovative nuclear fuel designer Clean Core Thorium Energy are working together to develop the advanced nuclear fuel ANEEL by combining Thorium with HALEU.

Passage of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act last Monday had some nice things for nuclear energy. The overall Bill is a $1.2 trillion for everything from bridges and roads to the nation's broadband, water and energy systems. Nuclear got about $25 billion.

A variety of new nuclear fuels are being developed to address existing and new generation reactors, including being accident tolerant, being longer lasting, being cheaper, providing more energy power, providing some recycling of previous fuel, providing easier refueling, being easier to store and dispose, and proliferation resistant. An example of an advanced fuel innovation is Clean Core Thorium Energy’s (CCTE) fuel to addresses several of these issues at once.

Researchers at Texas A&M and the US Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory have partnered with Clean Core Thorium Energy to fabricate a proprietary thorium-based nuclear fuel called Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life (Aneel) for PHWRs

Nuclear power could play a pivotal role in the fight against climate change — it’s cleaner than fossil fuels and more reliable than renewables such as wind or solar. But one thing holding the industry back is the need for a better nuclear fuel — and a team of researchers may have figured out how to make it.

A team from Texas A&M University has established a collaboration to explore the potential of an innovative, new type of thorium-based fuel.

“It's part uranium, part thorium, and it may just save America's nuclear program.”