Bo Feng, national technical director of DOE-NE's Fast Reactor Program and manager of Argonne’s Reactor and Fuel Cycle Analysis Group, discusses research with engineers in the METL facility.
Although Argonne’s METL facility doesn’t produce power, the unique facility does run valuable experiments and train potential workers needed to make commercial fast reactors possible.
Argonne pioneered pyroprocessing techniques to recycle nuclear fuel. Research and development in pyroprocessing may pay off for fast reactors, which already make very efficient use of natural uranium and can convert unused uranium into new fuel.
DOE’s Fast Reactor Program supports innovative partnerships between industry and national laboratories by focusing on methods, modeling, and validation; technology development; and advanced materials.