Nuclear Safety Analysis Engineer - Recycling

SHINE to support Argonne National lab and Case Western Reserve University on high-throughput separation technology to advance nuclear fuel recycling. JANESVILLE, Wis., August 18, 2026 - SHINE, a fusion energy company with a platform serving the nuclear fuel recycling market, is collaborating with the Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University to apply chemical separation technology for the nuclear fuel recycling process SHINE is developing. The collaboration is being conducted through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) CURIE Program, with additional funding, led by Case Western Reserve University, in which SHINE is participating as a subcontractor. Though frequently dubbed nuclear "waste," spent nuclear fuel retains some 90% of its energy potential, and its valuable byproducts have a variety of other uses as well. In recent years, federal initiatives and private investment have renewed interest in recycling spent nuclear fuel. To that end, Argonne is developing new chemical processing equipment known as Packed Centrifugal Equipment for Radiochemical Separation, or PaCERS, that spins fast enough to generate centrifugal forces beyond ordinary gravity to increase the efficiency of chemical separations. It's a high-throughput, lower-solvent approach to chemical separation that makes multiple stages of nuclear fuel recycling more economical. Through this collaboration, SHINE is working with Argonne and CWRU to apply the PaCERS technology to multiple separation processes, like those that separate the strontium-90 and americium-241 radioisotopes for use in medicine, manufacturing and advanced power systems. PaCERS technology will also be incorporated into the process for recovering minor actinides, long-lived radioactive material left over after other elements have been extracted. "Spent nuclear fuel is a tremendous resource, having many valuable materials that can be recovered instead of stored or even worse, disposed of. We already separate radioactive materials to produce medical isotopes today, and we're applying that same expertise to help push PaCERS toward practical use," said Ross Radel, CTO of SHINE. "It's another piece of the work we're doing to make nuclear energy effectively renewable." The transmutation of long-lived radioactive waste into a form that reduces its required isolation period from millennia to decades is part of SHINE's longer-term plan for nuclear waste mitigation. SHINE is currently validating how fusion-generated neutrons can transmute these long-lasting isotopes through another grant with DOE. Along with this collaboration involving Argonne and Case Western Reserve University, SHINE today announced participation on another project designed to pave the way for practical nuclear fuel recycling that turns "waste" into an energy resource. The project focuses on modernizing nuclear material control and accountability. These technologies support the cost competitiveness SHINE is seeking in its Recover Elements - Destroy Undesirables - Create Energy nuclear fuel recycling process, called REDUCE for short. Together, they advance SHINE's work toward the first commercial application of advanced recycling technologies that aim to enable the efficient, proliferation-resistant extraction of uranium, plutonium and other high-value materials from spent nuclear fuel. About Argonne 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. About Case Western Reserve University As one of the fastest-growing research universities in the United States, Case Western Reserve University is a force in career-defining education and life-changing research. Across its campus, more than 12,000 students from around the world converge to seek knowledge, find solutions and accelerate their impact. They learn from and collaborate with faculty members renowned for expertise in medicine, engineering, science, law, management, dental medicine, nursing, social work and the arts. And with its location in Cleveland - a hub of cultural, business and healthcare activity - its students gain unparalleled access to academic, research, clinical and entrepreneurial opportunities that prepare them to join its network of more than 125,000 alumni worldwide. Visit case.edu to see why Case Western Reserve University is built for those driven to be a force in the world. About SHINE SHINE is a fusion energy company headquartered in Janesville, Wisconsin. SHINE Technologies, LLC is leading the transition to the fusion economy through a vertically-integrated platform that supplies critical products to global markets, each one funding the next. Today, SHINE Technologies, LLC supply defense and research customers with neutron-based testing. Its medical radioisotopes diagnose heart disease and treat cancer, and the world's largest commercial-scale medical isotope facility is now under construction. SHINE Technologies, LLC is developing the technology to recycle used nuclear fuel, targeting a commercial pilot to draw down the 94,000 metric tons that have accumulated in the United States. Its long-term purpose is to put fusion energy on the grid. Learn more at www.shinefusion.com. Media Contact: [email protected]

Shine, Newcleo join up to close nuclear fuel cycle. Thursday, 18 June 2026 US fusion energy company Shine has joined a consortium that is working to build US nuclear fuel recycling capability. It has also agreed to work with France-based company Newcleo to link Shine's recycling capabilities with Newcleo's reactors, which are designed to run on recycled fuel. The MARIE (for Model for the Assessment of Reprocessing and Recycle with Innovative Execution) consortium is led by the independent non-profit EPRI research organisation and funded under the US Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy's (ARPA-E) CURIE programme. It is working to build an optimisation tool the US nuclear industry could use to evaluate and underwrite the first commercial used fuel recycling facilities. Shine is targeting a pilot facility capable of processing 100 tonnes of used nuclear fuel per year in the early 2030s - the kind of facility MARIE is designed to help underwrite. "Roughly 90,000 metric tonnes of used nuclear fuel sit in US storage today, and Shine's strategy is to turn that inventory into a strategic energy asset," the company said. Shine's role covers the security, regulatory, and commercial questions facing a US nuclear recycling industry, drawing on its experience in licensing its Chrysalis medical isotope production facility as well as its experience as a commercial isotope producer to assess the markets for valuable isotopes recoverable from used fuel. "Recycling effectively makes nuclear fuel a renewable resource, reshaping the next era of clean energy. The companies that figure out how to licence and build the facilities will set the pace for US recycling, and that's the work we're doing in this consortium," the company's founder and CEO Greg Piefer said. Technical collaboration In a separate announcement, Shine and Newcleo said they have agreed to collaborate on advancing innovative technologies for the recycling of used nuclear fuel. They will assess how Shine could supply Newcleo with materials from the used nuclear fuel of traditional reactors to manufacture MOX fuel, and how Shine could recycle spent fuel from Newcleo's reactors. The companies also intend to jointly pursue US federal funding opportunities and explore additional opportunities for collaboration across both the US and European Union, where they say used fuel stockpiles represent a growing strategic priority. Newcleo is developing advanced modular reactors cooled by liquid lead, and the facilities to produce mixed-oxide - or MOX - fuel to power them. Shine is developing nuclear fuel reprocessing technologies aimed at enabling the efficient and proliferation-resistant extraction of uranium and plutonium from existing used nuclear fuel inventories. The MOX fuel manufacturing capabilities that Newcleo is advancing can convert those materials into new fuel suitable for use in advanced reactor systems, the companies said. "Closing the fuel cycle will require deep, industry-wide collaboration that brings together expertise from across the nuclear fuel supply chain. Today marks an important step in that direction, combining Shine's recycling capabilities with Newcleo's advanced fuel manufacturing and reactor technologies," Newcleo founder and CEO Stefano Buono said. "Recycling spent nuclear fuel solves two problems at once. It addresses decades of accumulated waste and removes the fuel supply constraint on expanding the reactor fleet. Working with Newcleo connects our capabilities directly to reactors designed to run on recycled fuel. That closed fuel cycle effectively makes nuclear energy renewable and fundamentally changes its economics," Piefer said. The companies plan to begin technical scoping this year, with joint federal funding proposals to follow. Last year, Newcleo signed an agreement with US-based sodium-cooled fast-reactor developer Oklo to develop advanced fuel fabrication and manufacturing infrastructure in the USA. It has begun pre-application engagement with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission to support the future licensing of its first Lead-cooled Fast Reactor and an associated MOX fuel fabrication facility.

SHINE Technologies has secured European marketing authorisation for Ilumira, its non-carrier-added lutetium-177 (Lu-177), opening a major market for the radioisotope used in targeted cancer therapy. The approval allows SHINE to sell Lu-177 across the European Union. The Wisconsin-based company is building an integrated nuclear medicine platform spanning diagnostic and therapeutic radioisotopes. In January, SHINE acquired a US isotope manufacturing facility, adding diagnostic products including Tc-99m generators and cardiac imaging agents used in millions of procedures annually. Recent milestones include a $240 million Series E funding round led by Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong in February and a $263 million conditional loan commitment from the US Department of Energy in April to complete its Chrysalis facility, designed to become the world's largest medical isotope production site.