A new strategic partnership brings together US-based Curio, NuScale Power Corporation, and Framatome Inc (the US-based regional subsidiary of France’s Framatome) to build a unified domestic supply chain for next-generation small modular reactor (SMR) fuel by recycling existing used nuclear material. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) addresses a critical challenge in the energy sector – establishing an integrated, closed-loop fuel cycle that reduces waste and secures energy independence.
The partnership divides tasks according to each company’s specialised expertise. Curio supplies the recycling mechanism, through its proprietary technology to dramatically clean up waste. It is designed to reduce residual nuclear waste volumes by up to 97% while reclaiming valuable, strategic nuclear materials. As a provider of advanced SMRs, NuScale provides the technical blueprints and exact fuel requirements needed for its advanced reactor designs. Framatome offers massive industrial scaling capabilities, including fuel fabrication, qualification, and established commercial supply logistics.
The three-way collaboration is structured around a few major milestones:
- Pathways evaluation: mapping out “source-to-fuel” and “source-to-product” channels using materials recycled by Curio.
- Commercialisation: syncing future engineering efforts to easily qualify and mass-fabricate advanced nuclear fuels.
- Market integration: smoothing supply chain bottlenecks to easily move next-generation fuel streams from the processing plant into domestic and global commercial markets.
The agreement marks a progressive shift for the American nuclear energy landscape. Commercial nuclear fuel recycling had been restricted in the US since 1977, converting used fuel into static high-level waste. This joint effort aligns directly with recent federal initiatives, such as the US Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) CURIE programme, which funds modern reprocessing technologies to handle nuclear waste cleanly and build an entirely secure, domestic fuel market.
The Converting UNF Radioisotopes Into Energy (CURIE) programme, launched in March 2022, is a federal research initiative managed by the DOE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E). It provides funding to develop advanced, commercially viable nuclear recycling technologies that process used nuclear fuel (UNF). The initiative funds projects designed to safely reprocess waste from light-water reactors by focusing on several core engineering developments, These include: waste reduction (separating actinide elements from nuclear waste to radically diminish high-level waste volumes); safeguards & monitoring (integrating real-time facility monitoring and ultra-precise material accountancy to prevent the proliferation of weapons-grade material); and cost efficiency (designing modular reprocessing facilities and performing techno-economic analyses to ensure recycled fuel can financially compete with freshly mined uranium).
In October 2022 the DOE announced its selectees, awarding $38m to 12 projects led by university labs, private developers, and national laboratories. Early projects entered their operational active phases in March 2023, including Curio’s NuCycle contract which received $5,000,000 in funding.
“America’s ability to lead the next era of nuclear energy will depend on more than building reactors – it will require building the fuel cycle infrastructure needed to support them,” said Curio CEO Ed McGinnis. “This collaboration brings together leaders in fuel recycling, fuel development, and advanced reactor deployment to evaluate innovative pathways that could strengthen domestic and international energy security, enhance fuel supply resilience, and unlock greater value from existing nuclear materials. By connecting these critical elements of the nuclear value chain, we are helping lay the foundation for a future of clean, sustainable energy.”
By evaluating opportunities across the entire value chain, the three companies aim to identify pathways that could support the commercialisation of advanced fuels and fuel-cycle solutions needed to power the next generation of nuclear energy systems.
“Advancing the next generation of nuclear energy demands bold innovation and strong alignment across the entire fuel cycle,” said Tony Robinson, Framatome Inc. President and CEO. “At Framatome, we are committed to working with partners who share that vision and support efforts to strengthen America’s nuclear infrastructure. This collaboration represents the kind of forward-looking, integrated approach needed to unlock new fuel technologies, and ensure the U.S. remains at the forefront of safe, reliable, carbon-free nuclear power.”
NuScale Power President & CEO John Hopkins noted: “With the most near-term deployable SMR technology, NuScale has long recognised that the nuclear industry requires a strong, reliable, sustainable frontend and backend fuel supply to meet increasing demand. We are pleased to work alongside our partners Curio and Framatome to leverage our complementary capabilities, including NuScale’s position as the only SMR to have received US Nuclear Regulatory Commission design approval, to help advance a more resilient and integrated nuclear fuel cycle for off-takers in the United States and internationally.”
Under the MOU, the companies will conduct technical assessments, feasibility studies, supply chain analyses, and interface evaluations to identify potential opportunities for future development agreements and commercial partnerships. They will evaluate how recovered materials from used nuclear fuel can support future fuel and product streams, while leveraging each organisation’s expertise across fuel recycling, fuel development, manufacturing, qualification, and advanced reactor deployment.
