Argonne earns new GAIN awards to advance next-generation nuclear technologies

Newswise — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) program has selected two new projects that pair private industry with DOE’s Argonne National Laboratory. These collaborations with Zeno Power Systems and NuCube Energy, Inc. will help move cutting-edge nuclear technologies closer to real-world use.

The GAIN program gives companies access to national laboratory expertise to solve tough technical challenges.

Zeno Power Systems builds radioisotope power systems — long-lasting power sources for national security, space exploration and remote sensing. One promising heat source, strontium-90, is found in used nuclear fuel and is currently stored as waste.

Through its GAIN voucher, Zeno will work with Argonne scientists and engineers to test a new separation method that recovers strontium-90 from complex chemical mixtures created during used-fuel recycling. Argonne’s Chemical and Fuel Cycle Technologies division has decades of experience designing these types of separation processes.

NuCube Energy is developing microreactors to deliver high-temperature process heat (>1000°C) and reliable electricity for industrial, remote and off-grid applications. Demonstrating safe, reliable autonomous operation with substantially reduced on-site staffing is important for deployment.

Through its GAIN voucher, NuCube Energy will work with Argonne scientists to verify an autonomous control architecture using a digital twin of its DeccaCell reactor. Argonne will adapt its existing framework to demonstrate automated startup, remote monitoring and predictive maintenance in simulated environments

This work is supported by DOE’s Office of Nuclear Energy through its GAIN initiative.

Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit https://​ener​gy​.gov/​s​c​ience.