BIO

Dr. Bethany Dean-Kersten is a chemical engineer postdoctoral appointee in the Chemical and Fuel Cycle Technologies division at Argonne. Bethany received her B.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Idaho and Case Western Reserve University, respectively. Her work focuses on improving technologies to recycle used nuclear fuel. Her expertise areas are in molten salt chemistry, electrochemistry, and actinide chemistry.

ABSTRACT

Nuclear power is a clean source of energy that can contribute to a diverse, clean energy grid by providing power when the sun doesn’t shine, or the wind doesn’t blow. In addition, nuclear fuel is a tremendous energy source that outshines fossil fuels. Nuclear power does create its own waste stream; however, over 95% of used nuclear fuel, or “nuclear waste”, can be recycled into new fuel to power nuclear reactors. Since the 1980s, Argonne National Laboratory has invented and developed processes that use molten salts to separate the recyclable elements from used fuel and turn them into new fuel forms. These fuel forms can be used for power generation in advanced nuclear systems. This technology has been demonstrated with used fuels, and today Argonne is focused on making this technology more efficient, cost effective, and proliferation resistant by incorporating advanced sensors into each operation. With these advancements, recycling “nuclear waste” will provide 100 times more usable energy than it does today.