Can nuclear waste solve the energy crisis caused by AI data centers and our ongoing demand for more, more, more power?
In this episode of TechFirst, I chat with Ed McGinnis, CEO of Curio and former Acting Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy. He’s is on a mission to revolutionize how we think about nuclear waste: turning dangerous trash into a powerful resource for more energy, rare isotopes, and even precious metals like rhodium.
Amazingly:
- 96% of nuclear fuel’s energy is still unused after it’s pulled from a reactor
- Recycling can reduce 10,000-year waste storage needs to just 300 years
- Curio’s new process avoids toxic nitric acid and extracts valuable isotopes
- One recycling plant could meet a third of America’s nuclear fuel needs
- Nuclear innovation could enable AI, space travel, and medical breakthroughs
Check it out here (and subscribe to my YouTube channel):
Ed McGinnis on recycling atomic energy
We have a power problem.
Generative AI and massive data centers are driving up global electricity demand faster than almost anyone expected. At the same time, the world is sitting on nearly half a million tons of spent nuclear fuel that’s labeled as waste … but still contains a massive amount of untapped energy.
McGinnis’ goal: turn “ nuclear waste” into national advantage by recycling nuclear fuel, extracting rare isotopes, and helping power the AI future.
Nuclear fuel: only 4% used: 96% wasted
One of the most shocking revelations in the conversation is how little of a nuclear fuel rod’s energy is actually used before it’s discarded.
“You’ve only used about 4% of that energy value.” — Ed McGinnis
The rest?
Locked away, due to U.S. policy decisions dating back to the Carter administration, which banned nuclear recycling for proliferation concerns. Since then, that material has sat in pools and dry casks across the country: over 90,000 metric tons of it in the U.S. alone.
How to recycle nuclear waste
McGinnis’s company is building what he calls the highest-throughput, most compact nuclear recycling system in the world. And unlike older processes used in Russia or France, it doesn’t use nitric acid (which creates even more waste). Instead, it uses:
- A dry pyrochemical process with precise temperature control
- Electrolysis with cathodes to separate metallic isotopes
- A design that reduces the volume of high-level radioactive waste by 96%
“After we recycle, we’re only going to have about 4% of the original high-level radioactive waste left,” he says.
That alone is revolutionary. But the real magic is what they pull out of the remaining 96%.
Rhodium, palladium, and interstellar isotopes
McGinnis explains that during nuclear fission, valuable isotopes and rare metals are created as by-products, including:
- Rhodium — the most expensive metal in the world, used in catalytic converters
- Palladium — essential for electronics and hydrogen fuel systems
- Krypton-85 — for leak detection and industrial lighting
- Americium-241 — used in smoke detectors and space power systems
“At full capacity, our recycling facility is in the position to produce almost 10% of the world’s demand for rhodium,” he says.
“One isotope alone could carry over a billion dollars a year in revenue.”
It’s kind of a literal treasure trove … locked in what we’ve been calling waste.
Most importantly: fresh, new, “free” energy
Perhaps most importantly, the company also extracts uranium and plutonium from the spent fuel.
Enough uranium, in fact, to supply up to a third of the United States’ annual nuclear fuel needs from a single plant. They’ve also designed their own nano reactor and small modular reactor to run on their custom fuel: TRUE fuel, a plutonium-based compound with built-in security features to prevent misuse.
“Plutonium is a better fuel than uranium—higher density, lower weight. We’re building our reactors around it.”
It’s important to note: that plutonium fuel is not enriched to anywhere near weapons’ grade.
More more in the full episode
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