SHINE said it is working with Argonne National Laboratory and Case Western Reserve University through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy's CURIE Program to apply PaCERS, a high-throughput chemical separation system, to the nuclear fuel recycling process it is developing. The effort will focus on multiple separation steps, including extracting strontium-90 and americium-241 for uses in medicine, manufacturing and advanced power systems, as well as recovering minor actinides (long-lived radioactive materials left after other elements are removed). The company said the lower-solvent approach could improve the economics of spent nuclear fuel recycling, an area drawing renewed interest as used fuel still contains about 90% of its energy potential. SHINE linked the work to its broader REDUCE process and to its longer-term plan to transmute long-lived waste with fusion-generated neutrons, while targeting a commercial pilot to help address the 94,000 metric tons of used fuel accumulated in the United States.