Sponsors (2)
Official title: Require the Secretary of Energy to study new technologies and opportunities for recycling spent nuclear fuel.
Introduced October 16, 2025 by Rafael Edward Cruz · Last progress October 16, 2025
The bill could enable recycling of spent fuel to reduce local on‑site storage and boost domestic isotope supply, but it brings meaningful costs, local health/safety and land‑use risks, and heightened proliferation concerns that require strong safeguards and community consent.
Patients and hospitals nationwide could see more reliable access to medical and industrial isotopes if the bill enables extraction from spent fuel for domestic production.
Residents and local governments near temporary spent fuel sites could face less long‑term on‑site storage if recyclable fuel is removed and reused.
Recovering and reprocessing fissile material raises nuclear proliferation risks unless strong safeguards and controls are implemented.
Developing recycling infrastructure and facilities could impose substantial costs on taxpayers or utility ratepayers.
Communities near recycling or co‑located processing facilities — including tribal lands — could face increased local health, safety, and environmental risks from processing and transport.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires DOE to complete a 90‑day study assessing practicability, costs, benefits, and risks of recycling spent nuclear fuel (including HALEU) and extracting isotopes for commercial uses.
Requires the Department of Energy to complete a short, focused study (within 90 days of enactment) on the practicability, costs, benefits, and risks of recycling spent nuclear fuel, including high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU). The study must compare recycling options (aqueous vs. non‑aqueous), evaluate dedicated recycling facilities and co‑location with reactors and storage, and assess extracting useful isotopes for medical, industrial, space, and advanced-battery uses. It must identify stakeholders, infrastructure needs, timelines, public–private partnership options, and proliferation and other risks.